


First Contact, Last Encounter

by Jb (sg1jb)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Episode Tag, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Off-World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 11:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 51,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg1jb/pseuds/Jb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing really ends where they tell us it does, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Contact, Last Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Episode Tag for The First Ones
> 
> Previously posted online, March 2002

 

 

"No! No, no no no. Don't cut it!"  
  
What the hell...? Oh, please. Give me a break. Jack stared in renewed disbelief. He'd just spent hours and hours traipsing through deep woods - in such a state of utter dread, the only way to cope was to avoid thinking or talking about just why he was there - only to next find himself blowing away what used to be colleagues in an adrenaline rush of mindless panic. Damn snakes.   
  
Then he'd finally made here... only to end up poised on a hair trigger of stress, grimly urging shaky hands to steady enough to allow him to stop the bad guy from eating the good guy alive. Of course, considering just who the good guy was, it was pretty much par for the course it turned out that if it had been left up to said good guy himself, he would have been served up al dente.  
  
The profound relief which had washed through Jack upon seeing Daniel alive and upright had been overcome by confused amazement as he was unexpectedly told not to do what he came to do, because apparently, according to Daniel, it didn't need to be done. They were... friends? Combining 'friend' and 'Unas' in the same thought seemed too ridiculous to be believed. He must have heard wrong... right? But of course, in the end, it did have to be done. So in its turn, his astonishment over Daniel's claim of friendship had been swamped by another adrenaline rush, fueled by a sudden stab of stark fear, as the big Unas had made his move. And Jack had done what he'd had to do, of course. What had always had to be done, even as words to the contrary were still leaving Daniel's lips. This was Daniel, after all. It was predestined. Ridiculous to think even for a moment that the man might not need saving.   
  
All that had been for what, exactly? Right now, he was supposed to be slapping Daniel on the back and nervously laughing over the close call, not caught in the midst of a slam-dunk into an even more mind-boggling world of the bizarre and nonsensical. If he'd thought the 'friend' thing was weird, well, this latest incomprehensible statement coming out of Daniel's mouth was so far beyond weird it was actually disorientating. Don't take the rope off? What the hell was with that man? Jack's confusion was quickly overrun by exasperation and impatience. Even memory of his preceding original worry and relief were all but irretrievable, no longer relevant in light of the inexplicable. When they got back to Earth, he was going to remove the word 'don't' from Daniel's vocabulary even if it took a dozen bars of soap to do it.  
  
Funny how all this crap reminded him of his parents. How this cascade of different feelings he was experiencing resulted in a heightened sense of appreciation for his own long-suffering protectors. Worry, to relief, to confusion, and finally angry exasperation. Jack was pretty sure this progression of emotion was just what his folks had gone through every time their wayward adolescent finally showed up at four in the morning with some cock-eyed explanation or other. The outcome of such progressions had always been the same, even despite the original problem having been fear for his safety. Inevitably, he'd ended up punished. Grounded.  
  
Well, he must be one heck of a chip off the old block then, because right now Jack wanted nothing more than to ground Daniel - preferably with a well-placed blow to the head. He did his best to restrain himself from figuratively jumping all over the guy, staying just where he was and trying to keep his cool, gently banging the sharp-edged barrel of the P90 against his hip. That particular outlet for his stress simply put a dent in his hip, though, not in his mounting irritation. Across from him, Teal'c grunted, reacting to Daniel's unfathomable behaviour with a small frown and a questioning look aimed not at Daniel but at him, and Jack had to bite his tongue to keep from blurting out an impassioned, and likely quite unwise, verbal response.   
  
With the events of the last twenty hours catching up with him and the dank cave walls and his repressed emotions seeming to close in for the kill, Jack used every scrap of control he had in him and simply grumbled his opinion. "Oh, just cut the damn thing, Teal'c."  
  
"No! Don't!" The blurted protest was immediately followed by a soft "oomph" as Daniel tripped over the dangling end of the rope while twisting to move his arms away from Teal'c. Barely one second and one stagger later, Daniel's low grunt was repeated a bit louder as his elbow impacted the rock wall immediately to his left with an audible thwack.  
  
Great. Just great. First it was "don't!" repeatedly yelled at them, then it was the absolutely mind-boggling "we're friends," closely followed by some sort of 'Ka-Ka-Cha-Cha come-on-back-some-day' chatter... and now, this. Jack was starting to feel a whole lot more like Alice down the rabbit-hole than triumphant rescuer. Muttering under his breath, he stepped forward and grabbed Daniel by the upper arm before the visibly exhausted man could come up with any other potentially masochistic moves. Reaching toward the knife held in Teal'c's hand, Jack shivered as he felt cool air waft past his legs, the fires pulling steady drafts of cold air from the dark interconnecting passages into the small cavern. Christ, Daniel. Jack really wanted to get the hell out of there. Preferably before the Unas changed its mind.  
  
Daniel turned sideways, seemingly trying to pull his arm away. The movement inadvertently sent the length of his leash flapping forward to catch the side of Jack's leg with a small thwap, and it wound halfway around his calf. Daniel glanced down, jerked his hands slightly, and they both watched as one of the trailing pieces released itself from the top edge of Jack's boot. As Daniel relaxed his arms the dangling end of the leash unwrapped itself from Jack's leg, leaving a dirty streak on his pant leg. It slowly settled to curl on the ground, becoming a lax, dark shape against the stone, three twisted trailers haphazardly snaking away from their point of origin.   
  
"Sorry." Daniel glanced at him, and then quickly looked away toward the far wall, where they had last seen the Unas closely followed around the corner by its own hulking, hesitating shadow. He stood stock still, staring toward the far passage at apparently nothing. The flickering glow from the two fires produced a dance of light and darkness across Daniel's face which made it impossible for Jack to interpret the vaguely distant expression with any surety.   
  
Jack looked down at the ground, at the rope's trailers, and shivered. It was an obscene sight, considering what the thing was and what the outcome of its use would have been had SG1 arrived just a few minutes later than they had. What the hell was up with Daniel? You'd think he'd be more than happy to have that damned doggy lead cut off and to get the heck out of here. But, apparently there were more important things on his mind. He watched Daniel's lips move in silent speech, one word, two at most, repeated several times. Possibly two short syllables? A slightly drawn-out, almost-purse of the lips, followed by dropping the jaw open a bit more... looked like, what, more of that Cha-Cha stuff? Wait, oh just wait a second here - No. No, it wasn't possible. No way. Daniel wouldn't... nah. They'd all just heard Daniel tell the Unas he had to go.   
  
"Daniel?" Jack heard Carter move up behind him, then saw her face as she rounded him and went to stand just behind Daniel. She looked much more puzzled than concerned, her forehead deeply creased with a questioning frown. Well, welcome to Wonderland, Carter. Land of Infinite Confusion. Home away from home. Danieland.  
  
She leaned in and placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Are you okay? We really need to get going."  
  
Yeah. Needed to get going. "Yes, we do, Carter." The words were out of Jack's mouth and his body in action without conscious forethought. Plucking the knife out of Teal'c's hand, Jack reached out just as Daniel was turning to acknowledge Carter and grabbed hold of the end of the rope closest to Daniel's hands, hauling it around toward himself. Daniel had no choice but to follow the pull on his arms, turning to face Jack. "And as soon as I slice this damned thing off, we are so out of here..."  
  
Daniel raised his hands to shoulder height, twisting away, his tone sharp. "Jack, please. I told you. I told Teal'c. Don't. Don't cut it off."  
  
Carter jumped in with the pertinent question just as Jack was considering other possible and quite satisfying uses for the knife. "Daniel, why? Why would you want to stay tied up like that?"  
  
The flustered look on Daniel's face might have provided great fodder for Jack under less ambiguous circumstances. "What? Stay... well, no, of course not. No! No, I don't want... I thought I explained..." Daniel frowned as Carter shook her head. "Really? I thought... I didn't? Oh! Okay. Well, it has to stay in one piece." He waved his bound hands in a wide arc, clearly indicating the cavern, going from the crude drawings on the walls to the nearest fire, and ending up with one finger pointing toward the passage the Unas had taken. "This is first contact, Sam. God, just think about it. Successful first contact with aboriginal Unas! This is an artefact." He waved his arms, drawing their attention to the dangling leash. "I mean, just look at it, at what it's made of and its construction. So far, it's the only tangible thing we have of this culture for study."   
  
What? Jack did a double-take. Did he just hear right? Did Daniel just say, "so far"? Oh, for crying out loud.   
  
Crap, Daniel was really getting rolling here now. "In the past, our only contact with Unas has been with those under the control of the Goa'uld, and we've made basic assumptions on their nature on the basis of their behaviour while as hosts. But now, we have an incredible opportunity here." The arms waved again, setting the trailers gently undulating in a motion that was paradoxically offensive. "Sam, this can actually provide a lot of information. It's a representative sample of..."  
  
Enough is enough. Interrupting Daniel mid-babble with an impatient, "Yeah, yeah," Jack waved his hand dismissively through the air between them. The man had been dragged halfway across the damned planet by a 'representative sample' of primitive, clearly predatory and dangerous creatures, at the end of that ratty piece of whatever. He'd been one fork-tine's width away from being eaten alive, for God's sake. "It's first contact. You made a new friend. You think it's more than just a rope; it's an 'artefact'." He leaned forward, tugging slightly on the leather wrapped around Daniel's wrists to emphasize his point. "But it's not, Daniel. It's a leash used to drag in dinner, and it's filthy, and it looks like you've got open abrasions under there. So grab a brain here. It has to come off."  
  
Daniel closed his eyes, his attitude and stance all too clearly plummeting toward the low end of the endurance scale. His voice a bare whisper, and he hung his head as he spoke. "I never said I didn't want it off, Jack. God, how I want it off. You have no idea." He then raised his head, though, staring directly at Jack. "But not cut off."  
  
Ah, crap. The annoyance insistently tugging at Jack's gut was exacerbated by the concern that some of the Unas' somewhere around that corner just might not be so magnanimous as Daniel's captor, but even in amongst that Jack realized this was pretty vintage Daniel. Even as that thought alone caused his irritation to escalate, it occurred to him that as usual Daniel wasn't about to change his mind. So, fine. There was nothing to be gained from getting into an argument over it. What was an extra couple of minutes in the smelly cavern to untie the thing, compared to thirty seconds to slice it apart. The Unas wasn't the quietest nor sneakiest of varmints they'd ever had to watch out for... hell, you could both hear and smell them breathe from fifty feet away. Maybe they'd have a moment's notice, and if not, Daniel was already conveniently trussed up, a ripe peace offering. Not such a disaster. Hell, they'd spent that long fussing over the damned rope already. If that's what Daniel wanted -   
  
Jack waved Teal'c over. "See if you can't manhandle those knots free, Teal'c. But be careful... it's an 'artefact'."  
  
Pleased to note Carter was keeping a sharp eye on the Road to Unasville, Jack stepped away and diverted his attention to their six. He heard Teal'c murmur a brief acknowledgment to Daniel, heard an equally brief muted response and the light scuffle of feet on the ground as they arranged themselves. He peered down one dark tunnel and then another, smelling the smoke and listening to the crackle of the rapidly dying fires, and wondered if the large fire pits were always lit and regularly tended to by the Unas... or if these fires had been set specifically in anticipation of a special event. The main event. Creme de la Daniel, avec champignons. Shit. It was a frank reminder of why they were here, and all the crap they had just gone through.  
  
It was also a reminder of what they had encountered upon entering the cavern, of the initial relief and following surge of fear - strong enough to blur his vision, curdle his stomach, and weaken his knees - at the sight of Daniel standing not five feet away from two Unas, real live honest to God Unas for Christ sake, the larger of which was readying to pounce. That was a different fear, more immediate and crystallized, from the strong but suppressible, unfulfilled one which had dogged him throughout the mission, and it had hit him hard. Even though he'd understood right from the start it was probably an Unas that had taken Daniel, he realized he hadn't been prepared to really see it, to give up on the small hope that maybe Rothman and Teal'c had been wrong. He hadn't been willing to face it... the given that Daniel didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell against an Unas. Especially the likes of the honking huge one which had towered over him, close enough that Jack had imagined he could feel its slobber splash his own face.  
  
Never mind that. Don't think about that. Didn't happen. Daniel was fine. Other than a scratch on his face and rope burns on his wrists, he seemed fine. Intact, upright and walking and talking, and as usual saying the craziest things at the craziest time. Concentrate on that. Jack's mind reached out, trying to recover the almost instantaneous relief which had washed through him at the realization that although there were indeed Unas here, Daniel was still in one piece. But that relief had promptly disappeared as things got confusing, and now even with Daniel standing here next to him he couldn't seem to find his way through the emotional fatigue and still mounting exasperation to locate just where it had run off to. He glanced over at Teal'c working to release Daniel, and was reminded of a similar scene involving himself and Teal'c, on the banks of a smelly and Goa'uld infested body of water.   
  
Damn. Hawkins. And Rothman. Double-damn. He'd blown away Rothman.   
  
As it occurred to him that getting Daniel untied and out of the cave was only one small part of what he still had to do, Jack gave up all efforts to run after the elusive comfort of more positive emotions. They had to return Daniel home, help attend to their dead, and break up the dig campsite. First, though, they needed to get out without any further losses. God knows how many Unas were bunking just down the hall, and there were Goa'uld in the water, and for all they knew there were more of both stashed around every corner. The planet was probably a goddamned Club Med for evil alien creatures. For sure, even as he felt both pleased to have Daniel back and a familiar sense of irritation with the man, there were other more important things to do than stand around mollifying Daniel's inconvenient archaeological sensitivities. Or was it anthropological, in this context? Ahh, hell, who cared.  
  
He turned around, the order for everyone to stop what they were doing and get the heck out of there right on the tip of his tongue, only to see Teal'c pulling a loop of the rope-leather-leash-artefact thing up from out of the messy bundle between Daniel's wrists. Okay, well, if Teal'c almost had it unknotted, Jack supposed they could wait the few seconds more it would take to get it off. But then, abruptly, Teal'c quickly bent over and reached toward the ground at Daniel's feet. Jack's own surprised, "What?" was echoed by Daniel, who stood with a puzzled look on his face, hands still tied together, the short loop sticking up like a D-ring just waiting for someone to latch a tie-down onto it.   
  
In answer, Teal'c came up holding the dangling end of the leash in one hand, and with the other hand quickly reached underneath the knot and yanked on a section of the rope. The loop disappeared back where it came from, the strength of the pull from below yanking Daniel's hands downward along with it. Okay... well, whatever weird knot-so-expertise it was Teal'c had in mind, clearly it hadn't worked.   
  
"O'Neill, the rope is tightly knotted. It is too dark in the cavern to see well enough to release it." Teal'c stood with the end of the leash in his hand, his eyes on Daniel, and took several steps backward. Daniel extended his arms to follow the travel of the rope. It stretched between them like an umbilical cord.  
  
"Teal'c, what are you doing? You got it started..." Daniel took a step toward Teal'c, thrusting his hands forward.  
  
Teal'c took two long strides toward Jack, shoving the end of the rope at him so abruptly that his fisted hand made solid contact with Jack's body. Startled, Jack found himself instinctively accepting the rope. Renewed irritation shot off the scale at just one more unexpected event, but before he could do anything about expressing it, Teal'c marched off, saying, "Come. I suggest we leave this place now." In seconds, he was all but a dim shadow against the dark of the passageway they had arrived by, and rapidly disappearing from view.   
  
Standing there holding the leash, all Jack could think was the white rabbit had just made his appearance. By the time he got his thoughts organized enough to consciously agree with at least Teal'c's sentiment, if not the surprising action itself, Teal'c had rounded the corner of the passage and was no longer in sight. Bizarre. He looked from the tunnel down to the rope in his hand, then up at Daniel. For the most part Daniel was in shadow, his body still turned in the direction he had been when facing Teal'c. Daniel didn't move at all for a moment, and then slowly turned his head, his eyes clearly following the direction of the rope from his bound hands to its terminus in Jack's hand.   
  
Carter cleared her throat and upon catching Jack's attention, made a confused face and shrugged. She waved her weapon toward the Unas' hidey-hole. "I can take our six, Sir."  
  
Right. Take their six. Six. Number one, get out of the cave system. Number two, remind Teal'c it wasn't his job to unilaterally decide who took point and when. Not to mention number three... get going back to the Stargate. Numbers four and five involved recovery of dead bodies and explanations which were unmentionably unpleasant, so go straight on through to number six, which would be the silence of his living room and at least six extra-strength Tylenol for his rapidly developing headache, chased down by a six-pack of beer. But one thing came first - there was no way he was playing captor to Daniel. Daniel's open-mouthed, unremitting stare at the leash in Jack's hand and the tension in his posture said it all; he'd already spent more time being dragged around at the end of that tether than was tolerable. It wasn't hard to see that more than just Daniel's hands would start shaking if Jack so much as twitched that goddamned line.  
  
Suppressing a sudden, perverse urge to quip that Daniel seemed to be at the end of his rope, he moved to in front of Daniel, and grabbing a handful of his zipped-up jacket up near the collar stuffed the end of the leash down his front. It left a smudge of dirt where it came into contact with the base of Daniel's neck.   
  
"It's all yours, Daniel. We'll untie it outside." Immediately, Daniel's stiff shoulders sagged, his eyes closing ever so briefly before opening once again, the disbelieving stare replaced with a look of gratitude.  
  
Good. Preliminaries done with. Number one on the way. Getting out of here. Jack used the muzzle end of the P90 to gently prod Daniel in the hip and steer him in the right direction. It wasn't until ten paces later, as he was following Daniel into the passageway, that he thought to check if he had actually put the weapon's safety back on before doing that. And... oops. Stupid.   
  
Ohhh yeah, he really, really needed to get this mission done with and go home.

 

* * *

  
  
Entering the mouth of the tunnel, Daniel heard a muttered imprecation immediately followed by a muted metallic click, come from behind him. Jack, doing... something, with his weapon? Never mind. Didn't matter. Now that he was safe, suddenly he was so tired things like that just didn't seem worth thinking about. He trudged along, feeling the friction of the rope against his skin as he twisted his wrists slightly, and wondered why Teal'c had stopped. But Teal'c having left the rope on didn't matter much either. It was admittedly confusing, because Daniel was pretty sure Teal'c had been on the right track in sorting out the jumble of knots between his wrists, and yes, he really did want to be rid of the thing. But it really wasn't all that important in the great scheme of things. What was important was that Jack had said they wouldn't cut the leather. They'd take the rope off without damaging it, and he'd have intact tangible evidence of this first contact experience to archive. All things considered, he could wait a bit longer for it to be removed - at least, just so long as no one was jerking him along at the end of the thing any more.  
  
Even more importantly, his team had made it in time. He was back with his friends, still alive and on his way home, pretty much uninjured. Well, more or less, on that last one. The ache of his upper back and shoulders, both elbows and knees... and his feet, oh man, his feet, and his wrists - okay, stop, forget it. None of it was really very noteworthy. There was that unpleasant tenderness over his left hip, the accompanying intermittent stabbing pain deep in the joint a bit of a concern, but it wasn't all that bad. At least, Daniel hoped it wasn't anything all that bad.   
  
Nah. It was fine. He was all right. Although... okay, admittedly he felt weird. Kind of sloggy and thick-headed, even though his heart was still going a mile a minute. His skin tingled and itched everywhere almost as if it wanted to leap off his body, and he felt alternately hot and cold. It was probably just that he was still a bit adrenaline-hyped; what he was feeling was simply part of coming down from the stress-high he'd been on. There wasn't anything actually physically wrong. It was more than, what, maybe thirty minutes or so since most of the way through their hike through the passageways the young Unas had finally lost patience with his dallying and scribbling of broken arrows onto cave walls. Surely if anything was seriously amiss, it would have been screaming at him by now. Daniel suspected the results of the bashing around - bruises and aches on top of other aches - might become more of an issue soon, once his brain righted itself. But overall it was just surface damage, and he'd deal with that when the time came. For now, he had to ignore it. Besides, the Unas had apologized, directly and almost profusely so... in his own Unasey way. It was over with. Didn't - didn't, didn't - matter.  
  
Daniel shambled into the passage and around the corner, then on down the tunnel, tiredly dragging his feet, allowing his mind to wander in whatever direction it wanted to go. Which was as far away as possible from the recurrent memory of a quick glimpse of Loder being savaged and flung away like a rag doll. Move on. Something else. Okay... Cha'ka. Cha-ka. What the hell was Cha-ka? Ka was no. Ke-ka was something akin to kill, or dead, so maybe the 'ke' part was life? Or, a verb form for a state of existence, kind of like, 'to be'? Or something? But then, if that was the case, what could Cha-ka, with the 'ka' part, possibly mean? Nope. Nothing; no inspiration there at all. Maybe the 'ka' in Cha-ka wasn't even related to the 'ka' which meant 'no'? Or hey, maybe it was a matter of mis-hearing it or a mispronunciation on his part... maybe it was actually 'Cha-ke' with the latter part being something to do with life or something? Or, maybe - Ugh. Okay, try something easier. The rope. Yes, an animal hide. Leather. He'd noticed both the similarities and differences between the leather from which the rope was so tightly woven, and the hides which made up the garment and wristband worn by the Unas. So, they clearly had more than one source of leather, which meant they hunted more than one type of large prey. Plus that, the construction of both the garments and the rope provided an interesting glimpse into the degree of sophistication of manipulative -   
  
Shit! Oh God! Daniel's heart and stomach lurched up into his throat, and he leaped to one side as a huge dark shape suddenly emerged from a natural alcove, in the cave wall, which he'd only just barely walked past. God, oh God! No! Don't... Loder! No, no, wait, that was before... oh God it was another one, it was - The usual delayed decision in the argument between fight or flight had him pinned in place, gasping in an attempt to swallow the sudden fear. But then from behind him, Jack spoke, and upon hearing an answering familiar, deep voice, Daniel realized the hulking menace was not menacing at all; it was just Teal'c.   
  
He shuffled backward to lean against the opposite wall, his internal organs slowly settling back into their usual locations. Okay, so yes, even though he might not be exactly one hundred percent mentally alert and a bundle of physical energy, clearly there was still just a bit of adrenaline left in his system. Or, there had been. That last scare seemed to have completely drained the taps. Awareness of his knees turning to jelly and thighs starting to shake was accompanied by an overwhelming rush of exhaustion. Daniel slid down the wall into a crouch before he could fall down. Sam was at his side in an instant, her hand on his shoulder and soft voice in his ear.  
  
"Daniel? Hey, are you okay? Here..." There was a slight pressure on his shoulder and a corresponding push on his thigh. "Come on, sit right down for a minute. You look like you're going to fall over."  
  
Sounded good. The sitting right down bit, not the falling over part. Daniel let his knees move apart, but with no strength left in his legs and his hands bound in front of him, he couldn't control the short descent. He grunted as his butt hit the hard ground with a thump, discomfort spreading out from his hip to radiate through his entire pelvis. Ow. Ouch. Cha-ka. Whatever the hell that meant. All right, never mind. He nodded at Sam, tipped his head back against the wall, closed his eyes, and listened to the sounds of Jack and Teal'c as they stood wherever the heck they were, talking in low voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying. Didn't even matter.  
  
"Hey..." Sam's hands were on his face. He opened his eyes only to be blinded, forced to close them again as the harsh beam of her flashlight shone right into his face. She didn't seem to notice. Her fingers dug into his chin slightly as she turned his head. "You have a bad scrape on your cheek here. It doesn't look all that clean."   
  
Oh, no, really? Her fingers disappeared, and he heard shuffling and rustling noises. He hazarded opening his eyes again. Fortunately, she had aimed the light toward the ground where she was fussing with her pack. She rummaged around and produced a rectangular foil packet which Daniel recognized as containing a disinfectant wipe. Okay, so this was probably going to sting. And hey, no shit, it did. A lot. So much so, it took a moment before he was able to focus enough to identify the nearby sound he was hearing as being her voice. Was she talking to him? Uhh... okay, no. To Jack. Something about not yet, Sir; about waiting a few more minutes. Checking him out. Okay, that sounded good. A few more minutes sounded just fine. Wiping the tears from his eyes - not only did that stuff sting like hell, it emitted vapours which made onions seem like roses - Daniel felt the bundle of rope bump against his nose, and immediately his hands were pulled sharply away from his face.  
  
"Daniel! I just..." Sam's tone of voice changed from chiding to sympathetic as he rapidly blinked his eyes, trying to clear the excess fluid from them so he could see her. "Oh. Sorry. I guess that stuff is a bit strong." There was the sound of more rummaging, and then Sam was wiping his eyes with a soft tissue. "That rope isn't exactly clean, Daniel, and your hands aren't any better. I'll check that abrasion more thoroughly and you can wash your hands once we get outside, but until then it's best to keep them away from your face."   
  
Her face was close to his own, her smile encouraging and eyes full of caring concern. He couldn't help but ask. The uncertainty had eaten away at him since he'd woken to find himself captive, and he couldn't avoid facing it now that there was an answer available. "Sam, at the dig site. Loder..." The way she ducked her head and sighed was answer enough. Oh, no. Loder was dead. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, his chest clenching in misery over the thought that once again he'd survived at the expense of another.   
  
Sam's gentle touch and soft voice intruded. "Other than your wrists being chafed, are you hurt anywhere else?"  
  
He thought for a moment. Anything worth mentioning? That damned hip, aches and pains, bumps, bruises, most likely a variety of minor abrasions and additional chaffs under his clothing - So, no, nothing worth complaining about. He could still feel the sharp stinging on his face and a slight wetness; either the antiseptic was not quite dry, or the gouge was getting ready to bleed again. But that was okay too. A minor blip. He opened his eyes and shook his head, reassuring her. "No, I'm all right. Just got knocked around a bit from time to time, Sam. Nothing worth worrying about."   
  
Regardless of his answer, she pulled out another small packet and offered him a couple of very familiar-looking white tablets. Okay, yeah, he could go for that. Just to take the edge off. At his nod, Sam tossed the pain pills into his mouth, and gave him a quick and wholly inadequate squirt from her water bottle. His eyes roved the passageway as he choked down the bitter tablets, and abruptly he realized this was the location of his previous impromptu rest, where the direction of his fate had taken that final turn away from inevitable agonizing death toward a very welcome uncertainty. Toward tenuous hope, which miraculously had been realized as his friends caught up with them. That shallow indentation in the wall Teal'c had appeared from... that was where Daniel had marked the wall for the last time, pulling back against the Unas in order to do so. It was where he'd then immediately fallen under an unexpected, frustrated assault, ending up battered and huddling in fear and pain as the adolescent Unas finally managed to sort through his turmoil over just what to make of his captive.   
  
Daniel suddenly felt the need to jump up and go over there, had a strong urge to look for the lump of charcoal he'd dropped, to run his hands over the walls where chunks of stone had been dislodged by the Unas' blows, the debris showering over Daniel as he curled up against the inside wall of the alcove. Because this was where it had all come together for the Unas, an undeniably highly intelligent creature. This was where in the eyes of the young Unas Daniel had ceased to be the hunted lion, simply the spoils of a rite of passage, and instead become... Daaan-iel.   
  
God. The Unas had actually called him by name; the implications were huge. And exciting. Incredible, even. But, what the heck was Cha'ka supposed to mean? Cha-ka. Chaka. Wait... maybe nothing to do with 'ka' at all, but... Chaaka... Cha-aka?  
  
It was kind of serendipitous, his friends stopping here at the exact location in which their rescue of him had been made possible. Daniel knew if it had not been for that last culture clash and the length of the ensuing layover, there was no way Jack, Teal'c, and Sam would have gotten there in time to keep him from being torn limb from limb. Because despite his new friend's best intentions, the alpha male Unas hadn't been convinced. Daniel shuddered at the understanding of what would have happened to him if his friends had not arrived just when they did, at the mental image of what would have happened if the young Unas had not been pushed beyond tolerance and dallied here to beat the crap out of him. At the thought of the horrors and agony he would have undergone in the messy moments before his death, the shudder intensified, threatening to turn into a full-blown case of the shakes. And he couldn't even hug himself to fend it off.   
  
Sam noticed the trembling and placed a hand on his arm, misinterpreting his problem. "Hey, pretty chilly, eh? The temperature in here has to be about ten degrees lower than outside. We'd better get going." Raising her voice slightly, she directed a comment to the others. "We're ready to go any time, Sir. Daniel's feeling the cold."  
  
"Is he."   
  
It wasn't a question, and Daniel peered up at Jack, the vision of being dismembered alive fading from consciousness courtesy of his confusion over Jack's detached-sounding monotone. Jack stood just at the farthest reach of Sam's flashlight beam, his own light turned down toward the ground, the expression on his face unreadable in the darkness.   
  
"Jack?" Daniel clambered to his feet awkwardly, Sam helping by hauling on his upper arm.   
  
Jack took a step forward and motioned at Sam. "Carter, lead the way. Teal'c, take up the rear." Two more steps brought him almost up even with Daniel. Almost. Sam moved off down the tunnel and Daniel paused, waiting for the expected clap on the shoulder or light cuff on the arm which he was suddenly all too aware he had not yet received; the one that would mean Jack was happy to have him there, alive, standing next to him. It didn't come. He frowned as Jack waved the muzzle end of the rifle at him, saying, "So if you're so cold, Daniel, double-time it out of here."  
  
Daniel shivered, this time from a definite chill which traveled up his arms and legs and across his back, and realized it was pretty cold in the cave system. It felt colder than he'd been aware of earlier. Much colder, and in more ways than one. He moved away from the wall and was surprised when Jack took one step backward to each of his forward, keeping the distance between them consistent. Something was wrong. Where was the 'glad to see you in one piece, Daniel'; where was that clap on his shoulder and teasing ruffle of his hair?   
  
Okay, well, he hadn't exactly screamed out that he was glad to see them, either... in fact, now that he thought about it, it was possible that from their point of view he'd been anything but welcoming. But he'd been all too aware SG1 had no idea that a bond had been cemented at that small alcove, that there was good reason not to just blow the Unas off the face of the planet at first sight. Daniel had been preoccupied with the test of that bond, worried about what was going to happen with the Unas. Mind you... so were the rest of SG1, just in a very different way. Nevertheless, although a fair bit of what had happened since his team's arrival seemed to be fading into a confusing blur, he figured maybe he'd been less than overt about expressing his gratitude.  
  
It was never too late. Daniel took one tentative step forward, then reached out his bound hands toward Jack. "Jack, uhhm, I'm really glad to see you guys. I know it might not have seemed like it, but... " Suddenly, surprisingly, he felt his jaw clench and his eyes sting. He had to force the rest of it out past a throat that felt like it was closing up tight. "It was... I was pretty scared. You saved my life. Thank you."   
  
The image of the adult Unas ripping into him with those huge claws flashed into mind again, and his throat did close up on him. Trying to draw a breath without gagging, he heard himself let go of a distressed noise, something halfway between a sob and a choke. Damn. He was losing it. He squeezed his eyes shut, and desperately shoved both the hitch in his chest and the horrid vision aside. He hadn't coped with the rising wave of fear for all this time only to let it get the better of him now, when it wasn't relevant any longer.  
  
There was a noise, then something on his arm. He opened his eyes to see both Jack and Sam standing right there next to him, Jack's hand firmly grasping his forearm. Daniel looked into Jack's eyes, and through the gloom he thought he saw the reassurance he'd so missed earlier. Sam's voice radiated concern as she raised a hand, touching his cheek with one finger. "That abrasion is bleeding a bit. Must have been the antiseptic wipe." Grateful for the smooth and insightful deflection of attention away from his emotional state, Daniel aimed a weak, fleeting smile at her and then, embarrassed, looked away.   
  
The reassuring hand on his arm disappeared as Daniel heard Teal'c, from behind them, simply say, "O'Neill." Jack moved off to join Teal'c, and they spoke softly to one another in the background as Sam gently wiped the blood off his cheek with a clean tissue.   
  
She stepped back, cocking her head to one side. "So, Daniel, how'd you get that graze, anyway? It's quite deep." She was making small talk, trying to set him at ease. Trying to say, in her own way, 'you're very welcome'. Not trusting his voice, Daniel silently thanked her for the sentiment with a lingering look and slow blink. She grinned at him, getting the message just fine.  
  
He glanced over to where Jack and Teal'c stood, both of them looking toward him with what seemed to be dark, deep frowns on their faces. Or maybe it was just that they were standing somewhat out of the beam from Sam's flashlight that made their expressions seem so grim-looking. Yeah. Must be. He aimed a faltering grin at them, then turned his head back and digging down deep, determinedly reinforced the grin for Sam. "Ah, well, I think it was supposed to be the mark of death. Kind of an Unas version of the Zorro thing, you know?"   
  
His smile faded, morphing into a deep frown of his own as Jack's voice rang out, a little too loud and a lot more serious than Daniel's own had been. "No, Daniel. We don't know. Why don't you tell us?"  
  
Confused, he simply stared at them. Was something wrong? Sam obviously sensed it as well. She looked from Daniel to her other teammates and back again, so that all three of them ended up staring at him. Feeling like a bug under a microscope, Daniel mumbled to himself, "I just stopped to thank you. Didn't mean to cause a fuss."  
  
Jack shuffled his feet and looked at Teal'c before gazing steadily at Daniel, finally responding to his thanks. "It's okay, Daniel. We were in the neighbourhood. Now, let's get out of here." Daniel thought he heard what might be uncertainty in Jack's voice, but he forced himself to shrug it off, knowing he was far too confused and tired to try to figure it out. Sam gave him a sympathetic glance and set off down the passage, and he moved to follow her. For a step or two. Until he saw Teal'c settle in behind them and heard the crunching as Teal'c walked out from the immediate area of the alcove, treading on the fallout from his last encounter with the Unas.   
  
First contact... last encounter. They'd probably never let him return here again. He couldn't help himself; he had to go, had to do it, to find it.  
  
There were flurries of movement both behind and to one side of him as Daniel abruptly reversed direction and impulsively darted toward the alcove. He didn't register that those flurries were disconcerted in nature until he was down on his knees feeling around on the ground for the charcoal... until he heard an irritated exclamation from Jack, and suddenly felt a strong hand on his shoulder. His hand dragged across the ground as he was pulled away, and his fingers brushed over a familiar shape. He grabbed at it, just managing to scoop it up before he was forcefully yanked upward and back, and losing his balance he ended up on his butt on the ground. He twisted as he fell, and pain flared in his lower back and hip. He was just thinking he'd really have to get Dr. Fraiser to check for any free-floating bone shards in his hip joint as soon as he got back to the SGC, when Teal'c hauled harder, pulling him to his knees and then dragging him upward once again. He was hard pressed to get his feet under him, jolting to one side before he could centre himself properly, his cheek coming into painful contact with the cave wall.  
  
Startled and a bit disoriented over the rapid involuntary changes in position, Daniel didn't respond right away when Jack spoke to him. He heard him, heard the words, the question being asked of him, but somehow was unable to gather up a response. It wasn't like it was a difficult question... but... what was going on?  
  
The question turned into a harsh demand for an answer, and then he was totally flummoxed by the sound of Teal'c's staff powering up, unable to respond in any way other than just holding the thing up for them to see. What was wrong with what he did?   
  
It was just a piece of charcoal.

 

* * *

  
  
Jack had thought he'd heard and seen it all to this point: Unas dragging people all over the damned planet, snakeheads in the water, Hawkins and Rothman and the almost unbearable possibility Daniel might have suffered the same... not to mention the brain jarring 'we're friends' and 'it's an artefact' routines. And he'd figured, hell, if that last was anything to go by, Daniel just had to still be Daniel, so it'd be all right. But even if it wasn't, Jack knew he and Teal'c would deal with it however they had to, and there wasn't much more that could happen that could boggle him.   
  
He was wrong.   
  
Absolutely unbelievable! Look at that... just look at it! Either Daniel was totally loony, driven over the edge by his experience with the Unas, or he'd been taken over by the dumbest, weirdest, saddest excuse for an evil snakehead anyone ever could imagine. It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility. Rothman and Hawkins had behaved very differently from one another after being taken as hosts. They never would have known about Rothman if the otherwise all too savvy snake hadn't stupidly objected to being bound, but all along Hawkins had been so off-colour as to trigger Jack's alarm bells pretty much right from the start. Hawkins' voice and movements had been stilted, his affect strange, as if he was completely emotionally repressed -  
  
"There is nothing else here, O'Neill." Jack turned to Teal'c, one eyebrow raised. What? Nothing? Teal'c rose from his crouch in the rough alcove, shaking his head, confirming it. "There are only rock chips. While some have sharp edges, they are friable. The largest shard is not sizeable enough to be in any way useful nor dangerous."  
  
There had to be something. He couldn't believe that either Daniel or a snakehead - no matter how off-kilter a Daniel or stupid a snakehead - would run a risk like this for a crummy lump of charcoal. Mind, if Daniel was still Daniel, he wouldn't necessarily know he was running any sort of risk at all. Would he? No, probably not. But of course, just because Daniel had acted as though he'd no idea he was at dire risk of maiming or death by suspicious Jaffa didn't mean he was in fact still Daniel. Did it?   
  
Okay, now he had a headache, and that clinched it. They were out of here. Tearing his gaze away from the totally stunned-looking, hopefully-maybe still-Daniel, Jack propelled an equally stunned-looking Carter toward the cave entrance with one hand to her back. Following her, he threw an order back over his shoulder at Teal'c. "Okay, we're gone. Escort Daniel, Teal'c, and keep an eye and ear on our six."  
  
Jack walked just a half step behind Carter, the crunching of two pairs of boots several paces to the rear - one set far too loud and uncoordinated for comfort, dragging and uneven - satisfying him that Daniel and his temporary guard were keeping up through the tunnels and around the various corners. Corners with walls marked with directional arrows hastily drawn in charcoal, in varying degrees of completion. Would a primitive Goa'uld do that? No. Of course not. This was all ridiculous. Okay, well, not necessarily 'of course' not, but at the very least, 'probably' not. Was 'probably' good enough? No, it probably wasn't, given how Rothman's Goa'uld had snookered them. Jack rubbed his aching forehead with one hand, peering past Carter toward the faint glimmer of light emanating from around the next bend. They were finally almost out of the cave system.  
  
Carter kept silent, but also kept on turning slightly sideways, casting concerned and puzzled glances back at him. She was being the good little soldier though, restraining herself from verbally asking for an explanation before he was willing to give it. He knew he'd have to explain to her, and if he was truthful with himself he knew all too well why he'd been procrastinating. It wasn't so much that she'd be alarmed and frightened for Daniel - he and Teal'c were frightened for Daniel too - or that he expected opposition from her. It wasn't even that if he gave voice to the questionable concern and the observations which had made Teal'c suspicious in the first place, he'd feel even more like an absolute moron than he already did. Not that he wouldn't feel irretrievably foolish actually saying it... he would, because after all, this was stupid; Daniel wasn't possessed by a snake. No, it was because if it turned out for the worse, and something very bad happened, he didn't want it to be Carter who'd have to live with having pulled the trigger. Better she didn't know, so she wouldn't realise the need and take the action.  
  
Carter led them around the next bend, past the scrawled 'this way' on the wall just adjacent to the one with all the pretty pictures. Drawings just one step up from stick figures - images of Unas, plus some sort of indigenous quadruped animals they'd not yet caught sight of, and lots and lots of pictures of primitive symbiotes. And the smear of blood. Can't forget the blood on the wall. At least there wasn't much, is what he'd said when he first saw it. Right. That wasn't terribly reassuring at the moment, because he couldn't ignore Teal'c's caution. Even the most remote chance they'd still lost Daniel, even though he hadn't been torn limb from limb, was too great a chance to be tolerable.   
  
Just at the cave entrance, Carter stopped and turned around to face him. Light from the early morning brightly overcast sky stung his eyes, spilling into the cave from behind and silhouetting her, and he couldn't make out the expression on her face. He read her body language all too well as it abruptly changed, though, and just as she stiffened and began to take an alarmed step forward, Jack whirled around in reaction, his weapon at the ready. A split second later he heard scuffing and unintelligible voices possibly raised in argument, and scrunched up his eyes to try to see better as he peered back into the darkness of the cave. The beam of what had to be Teal'c's flashlight almost obscured the scene, but he vaguely made out two figures back at the far intersection, one kneeling, the other slightly bending over. The connotation was not one of threat, and he relaxed his grip on the P90 as Carter blew on by him, her muttered "God, what the hell is going on here?" wafting by in her wake.  
  
Jack took off, lengthening his stride to pass Carter as he approached, and was able to make out the scene and the voices more clearly. Daniel knelt on the ground, his bound hands held up in front of his chest, his face raised and tilted upward toward Teal'c. His voice was shaky, but insistent. "So look then. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself."  
  
Jack didn't quite catch Teal'c's low reply, but it was obvious Teal'c wasn't checking out anything. He was in fact straightening up, turning to meet Carter's and his arrival with a stern look. Jack stopped several feet away, flicked on his flashlight, and played it over Daniel. He looked all right... or at least, for the most part much the same as he had back at the alcove. Tired, wobbly, confused and confusing. With one difference - now he was displaying a typically aggrieved Daniel'tude which, had it not been for Jack's last memories of Rothman, would have set a smile on Jack's face even as it set his teeth on edge.  
  
Carter sailed right on by, obviously intending to crouch down next to Daniel, but was hauled up short by a hand and command from Teal'c. "Do not approach him."  
  
She stopped on a dime at Teal'c's tone, turning back to Jack. "Sir?"  
  
"Teal'c, I told you, it's all right. Really. I'm fine... I'm me." Even considering its muted assertive edge, Daniel's voice telegraphed entirely earnest intent, and he dropped his head forward, chin to chest. "Just look."  
  
Teal'c didn't look at Daniel as he spoke, his tone of voice and stance immovable. "That would prove nothing, as you well know."  
  
Daniel snapped his head back up and thrust his chin out toward Jack, his now overt assertiveness joined by obvious impatience. "Oh, God! Do you have any idea how tired I am? I'm haven't been taken by a Goa'uld, Jack." His eyes still fixed on Jack's face, he angled his head to bring his neck slightly out away from the back of the collar of his BDU jacket. "Check for yourself. Sure, I admit there was a close call, but the Unas intercepted it." A fleeting, almost wistful smile, seeming terribly incongruous to Jack, played across Daniel's face for a moment and his voice softened considerably. "We played 'toss the symbiote head'. You'd have liked the outcome of that game, Jack."  
  
Jack's blood chilled in his veins. What had Daniel just said? He heard Carter's gasp, felt her eyes boring into him. He knew he should say something... should tell her that when trying to untie the leash, Teal'c had noticed the dampness of the rope and of the seams of Daniel's jacket and pants, and of his boots and laces, suspecting it for what it apparently now had just been confirmed to be. Shit. So Teal'c had been right on the money with that, at least.  
  
Even though Jack really didn't want to know any more, didn't want any part of helping 'remote' to escalate into 'feasible', he heard himself asking the question, his voice harsh. "You just happen to take a dip in the lake, Daniel?"  
  
Still on his knees, Daniel looked from him to Teal'c, and set his jaw as he answered the question with a nod and a definitive, "Yes. I was trying to escape."  
  
Carter stepped back a half-pace from where she stood next to Daniel. "Oh, no."   
  
Jack noted the disconcerted expression which settled on Daniel's face at her action. It occurred to him Daniel didn't have any way of knowing what the rest of them had gone through during their search for him. While he understood that would help account for Daniel's not fully understanding how seriously they had to take this, it was annoying this had become a topic of conversation before Jack'd had a chance to think it all the way through and was ready to control the way it went. For that matter, he couldn't help but wonder how and why Daniel and Teal'c had gotten into it. He glared pointedly at Teal'c, but there was no reaction.   
  
"Sam? C'mon, it's me here." Daniel was obviously confused, becoming upset. He'd shuffled around on his knees to face Carter, his hands coming out in front of him to help with his balance. He looked like a supplicant, kneeling there with his hands held out together in front of him, staring up at Carter. "Surely you can tell. Right? Sam?"  
  
Jack's gut twisted at the sight of Daniel like this. Except that - The twist turned to an outright wrench of frustrated anger at the thought this might not even be Daniel. The zipper on Daniel's jacket had opened some, and the rope lead had fallen out from inside the jacket. It dangled down from his bound hands, two-thirds of it draping across the ground in a disorganised, loose coil. Jack had an irresistible urge to snatch it up and give it a hard vertical yank. Because Daniel Jackson didn't belong on his knees, not ever, and especially not in front of his own team... invading snake or no.   
  
Suddenly he found himself moving, bending over, his hands closing around the dangling line. Upon realising with alarm just what he was actually on the verge of doing, Jack quickly altered the action. He let go of the leash and instead grabbed Daniel's hands. Daniel pulled his arms back toward his chest, away from the sudden grasp, and Jack leaned in closer, his face settling into a hover just several inches above Daniel's own. He tried to moderate his tone, but his voice came out in a tense, low hiss anyway. "Up, Daniel. You have to get up."   
  
He straightened, pulling on Daniel, who extended his arms out fully before he awkwardly moved to stand up, obviously totally bewildered. "Why?"  
  
"Because if you don't, I think I just might go stark raving mad, that's why. Just do it."   
  
Jack shifted one hand to underneath Daniel's upper arm, steadying him as he got his feet underneath him. Even then, Daniel didn't feel too solid, wobbling around so much Jack wondered if Daniel just might hit the deck if he let go. So he didn't let go, and immediately Teal'c reminded him of his rightful place - that rightful 'military colonel responsible for everyone's safety' place - with the old downturned-mouth raised-eyebrow look. Even though Jack dearly wanted to put more credence in the pitifully grateful look on Daniel's face than the warning on Teal'c's, he knew he couldn't. That knowledge provoked another stab of anger, and a heightening of the tension headache lurking behind his eyes. He let go and backed off, grimacing at the sight of Daniel staggering slightly before catching and re-balancing himself to stand on his own.  
  
Guilt flared as Daniel simply cast another grateful look his way, liberally laced with misplaced relief, before turning to Carter and beseeching her, obviously trying and failing to make some sense out of their behaviour. "Sam? You can sense the Goa'uld. You don't sense anything in me, do you? You can't, because there's nothing here."   
  
Jack grimaced again, this time over the expression on Daniel's face when Teal'c impassively informed him that was irrelevant; Major Carter couldn't sense it because as Daniel Jackson well knew there was no naquada in the primitive symbiotes. Daniel swung a disbelieving, almost dazed, stare back and forth between Carter and Teal'c as he digested the information. Jack watched the emotions flick one after the other across Daniel's face - his initial surety swiftly decaying into doubt at Teal'c's words, followed by disappointment, and then horrified dismay as he clearly realised the implication. A part of Jack impulsively crowed happily at the thought he wasn't the only one to go on an emotional rollercoaster ride this trip, but then he remembered Daniel had endured a lot more than just this over the past twenty-four hours. If this even still was Daniel.   
  
Anger surged again, only this time it was directed at himself, over both his own uncertainty and lack of control over himself. God, he really needed to get off this damned planet.

 

* * *

  
  
Daniel's shoulders sagged as he gave in to the knowledge that from their point of view - their altogether inexplicable point of view - they had no way to be sure. They wouldn't take him on faith, believe him, if there was a possibility it was actually a Goa'uld offering the reassurances. Actually, his discouragement had little to do with issues of faith and trust, although he suspected those just might rear their heads later when things were less immediate. His present concern was that with each passing minute he felt increasingly tired and shaky. He was battered and bruised, the discomfort of his hip settling into a fairly constant sharp ache. It wasn't hard to imagine that at some point along the way before the long hike back to the gate was a done deal, he just might need help with continuing to put one foot in front of the other.   
  
He needed them to believe him. There had to be a way. Daniel trolled his increasingly blurry memories of his own behaviour when they had rescued him, looking for anything which might be of help. Hoo boy. Not so helpful, there. Okay, so maybe he was doomed to walk alone here, at least until they got home and the MRI results came in. Or, wait... maybe not. He could see how his behaviour seemed erratic to them, but there were good explanations for all of it. Even the less sensible things he'd said or done were, in fact, pretty much the exact opposite of what a Goa'uld might do. Not to mention they didn't even know if these particular symbiotes were even actually 'Goa'uld' to begin with - that they were capable of forming complex neurological and biological connections with a human host, even the most basic of connections required for physiologic co-existence, never mind the sort of connections which resulted in an ability to exert any sort of behavioural control.  
  
It was Sam he reached out to, extending his arms just enough to entreat her, but not close enough to her to make contact. "Wait... just wait. Okay, so you can't sense them. But think about this: if I were a Goa'uld, my first priority would be self-preservation, right? Out of all the Goa'uld we've ever been in contact with, or ever even heard of, is there even one who might ask you not to shoot the Unas, or not to cut through this?" He raised his hands, and the tail end of the rope dragged across the ground at his feet. "Those are my priorities... mine alone. The Goa'uld don't place themselves at risk for interests which don't coincide with their own. The Goa'uld subjugate their hosts; they don't imitate them."   
  
Sam's wince managed to convey a spectacular amount of discomfort. "Oh, Daniel. You don't understand. You don't know -" She bit off what she was about to say, shifting her weight nervously, and shot a look at Jack.   
  
Daniel followed her eyes, and was shocked at the dark expression which had settled on Jack's face. He opened his mouth, only to close it without giving voice to his concern as Jack barked out, "Enough. It's at least an eight to nine hour hike to the Stargate. Weapons at the ready, ears in." Jack stuffed his earpiece into his left ear, Sam and Teal'c doing the same with their own. "I want to get there before nightfall; we're not going to do that standing around here." Daniel was left gazing at nothing as Jack simply turned on his heel and walked away.   
  
Daniel stared, dumbfounded, as Jack kept going right on through the cavern and out into the daylight. Sam bit her lip and turned to follow, seemingly a whole lot more interested in looking at the ground than at Daniel. There was a gentle nudge to his back, and he looked behind him to see Teal'c prodding him to move forward. Considering they were worried he might be compromised, Daniel could understand their caution, but he was mystified over the seemingly angry rejection of his efforts to resolve their doubts. Surely they'd want to figure out the truth, wouldn't they? However, the discussion which might have helped do that was obviously over, terminated with extreme prejudice. Why? Could it be they weren't just worried about the possibility of him being Goa'ulded, but actually thoroughly believed it had in fact happened?   
  
Daniel tried to work it out as he trailed along behind Sam and Jack. Sam had started to say something to him. She'd said he didn't understand... but, understand what? Fully aware he'd get nothing out of Teal'c, Daniel remained silent and allowed himself to be directed out of the cave. As they emerged he raised his arms to shield his eyes from the light, looking at Jack where he stood just at the edge of the nearest group of trees. Surprisingly, Teal'c reached forward and gently pulled Daniel's arm away where his filthy sleeve brushed against the cut on his cheek. Okay, so if Teal'c was worried about possible infection, then it must not be a done deal - Teal'c wasn't sure. And if Teal'c wasn't sure, then Jack wouldn't be certain either. Sam clearly hadn't come to any definite conclusions; she kept on glancing at him, shifting her weight toward him only to pull away before completion.   
  
If no one was thoroughly convinced he'd been taken over, why the refusal to consider the ins and outs of the problem, then? Daniel lowered his arms and squinted at Teal'c in the bright light, feeling his confusion looming large on his face, but Teal'c was impassive. When Daniel redirected his gaze to Sam, she looked away the moment she was aware of his eyes on her. Again. God. Nothing about this was making sense.  
  
Suddenly, simultaneously Sam jerked as if she'd been tasered and Jack whirled around to face down the wide dirt pathway through the woods, his left hand coming up to his ear in a tight fist. As the expression on Sam's face went from surprise to alarm, Teal'c stepped out from behind Daniel, his head cocked to his left and his eyes fixed on Jack's back. Daniel raised his hands to his upper left breast pocket, only to remember he didn't have his radio. He watched with rising concern as his team mates stared at each other in shock. Whatever transmission they were receiving through the earpieces, it obviously wasn't expected nor welcome.   
  
Jack's face twisted harshly, his whole body visibly tensing as he listened further. Just when Daniel was sure Jack's fist would punch right through his own ear into his head, he lowered the hand to flick the comm switch on his radio. "SG3-niner, this is SG1-niner. Copy the situation. We are not, repeat, _not_ aware of the disposition of the rest of SG2. We have Dr. Jackson, and are all four accounted for. We are mobile, approximately six hours out from the SG11 base camp. Go."   
  
In the ensuing pause, Sam hissed under her breath and Teal'c hefted his staff weapon ominously. So, more bad news being relayed, obviously. Daniel chewed on his lip. Six hours out from the dig site, and something other than his own awkward situation was wrong. His legs felt rubbery supporting his weight, just standing still... if they had to get back there in a hurry, it was pretty unlikely he'd be -   
  
Oh God, the dig site. Could there be something wrong at the dig site? Sound and images flashed through Daniel's mind. Weapons fire, Loder being tossed aside like a rag doll, and something big and snarly bearing down on him. Were Robert and the others all right? What if Cha'ka hadn't been alone? He'd asked Sam about Loder and she'd known the answer, so either or both of SG3 and SG1 had already been through the site. Jack had just mentioned SG2, as well. Where did SG2 come in? Surely Sam would have told him if there was something going on at the camp that he had a right to know about? But irrespective of whether she would or wouldn't, whatever was on the radio definitely was not old news. Jack, Sam, and Teal'c were looking pretty blown away by what they were hearing.   
  
"Dammit." At Jack's voice, Daniel looked up to see Jack now staring at him, his eyes narrowed and mouth pursed in concentration. Jack was thinking hard, and it appeared to be aimed in his direction. Uh oh. Look out.  
  
"Oh God, Sir. We allowed Teal'c's order to Coburn to stand. We left the Stargate unguarded. It's our fault." Sam looked at Daniel, seemed to be about to say something else, but then quickly turned her face away from him. Daniel felt irritation prick at him. All these half-baked, interrupted overtures of hers were getting to him. He wished she would either shit or get off the pot.  
  
There was an uncomfortable moment as Teal'c and Sam managed to stare at everyone in turn, while Jack steadfastly kept his eyes on Daniel. More confused than ever and starting to feel a bit intimidated by Jack's unwavering attention, Daniel was having increasing difficulty processing what had been said. Fault? And Coburn... Coburn was on SG2, but the radio transmission had been from SG3. So, so... so, what? Had both SG2 and SG3 been assigned with SG1 to the search and rescue operation? Three teams, plus the expanded SG11 dig team if they hadn't already returned to Earth? That was... excessive. And with at least three teams on the planet, they'd ended up with the Stargate unattended - which appeared to have turned out to be an especially bad thing, for some reason - and it was SG1's fault? Add to that the behaviour of his team mates...  
  
Teal'c broke the silence. "No. We are not responsible. Major Coburn was made aware that the risk of which I previously notified him had been eliminated. You, yourself, and O'Neill both confirmed the second transmission."   
  
Sam was shaking her head before Teal'c had even finished speaking. "We didn't specifically belay your order for them to come, Teal'c. They must have left the 'gate to help Captain Griff with... with the casualties."  
  
Ahh, what? Casualties? Oh God - more than just Loder, then? Oh no. Daniel had assumed the young Unas had simply bagged him and run after killing Loder, but what if... what if Cha'ka hadn't been alone, or if -  
  
"Crap!" The word virtually exploded from Jack, and Daniel jumped, startled. Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair and then on down his face. His voice was softer, almost pained, as he turned his back to them to stare off into the woods. "Carter's right. It's our fault. We blew it."  
  
What? Blew what? An series of unpleasant chills used Daniel's spine as a motor speedway. Just what the hell was going on here?

 

* * *

  

Listening to SG3's repeated unsuccessful attempts to raise any of SG2, Jack stared into the woods and tried to force himself into line. The last thing needed now was for him to give in to his emotions. An objective, analytical breakdown of the situation was called for, not the raging hissy fit he felt rising. But God, what a mess. He'd been stupid enough around the mistake with Coburn, all of them had... but shit, he'd been pretty much brain dead with the rest. Hadn't even occurred to him. And because of that, because he'd been such a frigging idiot, while they'd been incommunicado in the radiowave-damping caves rescuing and then dancing around Daniel -   
  
Damn. Damn, damn, damn. And just for good measure, Goddamn it!  
  
The radio suddenly went dead as SG3 gave up, only to blare into his ear again as new orders were relayed. Jack flicked his comm switch and acknowledged them quickly, signing off without comment. What was there to say? His questions would be answered when they got to the dig site, and until then he had other things to concentrate on. Without the static and voice in his ear, he became aware of his own breathing. In and out through clenched teeth, far too uncontrolled. He thought he heard a whisper from behind him penetrate the ragged whistling of air, but ignored it. Closing his eyes and tipping his head back, Jack made a conscious effort to regain his composure. He'd made a bad error, and he would have to answer to himself for that, but for now it was time to move on. Learn from it, and move on. They'd been given their orders, and now they had to get going and follow them. Even if those orders were the exact opposite of what he really wanted - no, needed - to do.  
  
The whisper was repeated a bit louder, accompanied by rustling and shuffling. Loud enough now to be identifiable as Daniel asking what the hell was going on. Neither Teal'c nor Carter answered him. That was to be his job, damn it. Daniel would have to be told enough to ensure he behaved himself - because they really didn't have time for anything else but one hundred percent cooperation and effort on Daniel's part - but not so much that if he wasn't really Daniel there would be a problem. But first, Jack had to get all these raging body chemicals back into some semblance of order. He pulled air in through his nose, and slowly let it out through his mouth. There was more hoarse whispering from behind him, but this time he couldn't make out all the words.  
  
"Daniel, no. No, that didn't happen." Carter's reply just barely preceded the sound of footsteps, and then Teal'c appeared at Jack's side in a silent signal that it was past time he got it together. He allowed himself one last vehement scrub of his hands through his hair, and turned around. Daniel stood looking at the ground, shoulders sagging as he weaved slightly in place. His legs were spread apart as if the wide stance was needed to ensure he wouldn't topple over. Carter had one hand resting lightly on Daniel's shoulder, and settled a mournful, anxious look onto Jack, obviously more than just a little uncomfortable with the whole situation. "Sir, Daniel's worried about SG11."   
  
Jack popped his eyes at her. As a not so subtle prompt, which as far as he was concerned he shouldn't have needed to give her in the first place, it really must have sucked, because in response she simply widened her own eyes in silent entreaty. He bit back the urge to bark at her to go take point and leave him alone.   
  
"Jack." Daniel's face had paled, and he wobbled dangerously as he turned to look at Jack. His tone was strained. "Sam said, casualties. I, I saw Loder just before I - It's the dig site, isn't it? There's something wrong at the site, isn't there?"   
  
For a second, Jack wished Daniel would wobble right on down unconscious into the dirt, right onto that whitewashed face. It'd be easier to carry him than to deal with this. Daniel shook his head, looked around aimlessly at the ground, the trees, the sky, and then screwed his eyes shut. "God, I thought it was just Loder. I remember... I thought I heard the others... shouting..." His voice trailed off, the words ending with a soft, "Ohh, please."  
  
Carter swiveled around and peered at him. "What do you remember, Daniel?"  
  
Daniel cracked his eyes open. His jaw flapped a couple of times as he fished for either memory or words. Or both. "I... I don't... basically, just Loder shooting at it. He... it hit him. The shooting stopped and I thought I heard shouting, but... I don't know. It happened so fast. It blew right by Loder, onto me." Jack frowned as Daniel grimaced and raised his hands to beside one ear, and with a two-handed waggle indicated behind him. "Next thing I know I'm waking up somewhere else, laying in the dirt." The hands came forward to do a similar waggle in front of his face. "With this on."  
  
"Oh my God. You were unconscious?" Her eyes widening, Carter gaped at Daniel momentarily, shot a quick, penetrating stare at Jack which seemed to have an edge of panic to it, and then appeared to get herself back together. She reached out to lightly touch the back of Daniel's head. He hissed and ducked forward as she palpated. "Pretty big bump here. Daniel, why didn't you say anything about this before now?"   
  
She turned her big lamplights onto Jack, the 'sir you do know what this means' shining out of them in blue neon. He had an insane momentary urge to run and hide. But there was no escape from it. There never was.  
  
"Colonel, this could be significant." Yup, there they were, the much anticipated and much not-loved Earnest Enlightenment and her shitty accomplice Knowing Nod. "Very significant, Sir. As I'm sure you're aware."   
  
Jack considered sending out one of his own troops to do battle - perhaps Snarky the Comeback Kid? - but was distracted by a vocal, wordless query from Daniel. The disconcerted garble coming out of Daniel's mouth was paired with a thoroughly confused 'huh-what' look, Daniel's confusion and his concern for the mysterious casualties evidently eating away at both his linguistic and comprehension skills. Jack himself wasn't sure of exactly what she meant, but hey, that was expected, more or less. However, Daniel... seeing as normally Daniel was way, way smarter than him, Jack figured if it had Daniel flummoxed then either Carter was being more tangential than usual or Daniel simply wasn't all there. _And oh shit, wasn't that just a really poor choice of words, Jack?_  
  
Okay, so one more pull through his hair wouldn't hurt. Dismissing Carter's cryptic message - whatever it might be - for the moment, Jack decided to concentrate on Daniel. Obviously Daniel was sick with anxiety that some of the people he'd been working side by side with might be dead because they'd tried to protect him from the Unas. Jack knew for Daniel that thought would be unbearable. This time Jack dragged his hand right down onto the back of his neck and gave himself a quick, fortifying massage. What of the situation to tell? How much, and when? Assuming Daniel was in fact all Daniel, they didn't have time right now to deal with the effect the truth would have on him, and doing a dump and run on the guy would be worse than cruel. Rothman had been his friend.   
  
He made the only decision he felt he had room for right then. "Daniel, yes, it killed Loder, but no one else was hurt when it took you. Rothman told us you were dragged off." Damn. Selectivity sucked. Was it telling a lie if you told the truth, but not the whole truth? "Nobody thought to mention you'd been knocked unconscious. We assumed you knew, that you'd seen what happened at the camp. It killed Loder and took you. That's all."   
  
Jack watched relief and regret pass one after the other across Daniel's face. As Daniel brought his bound hands up and pressed two fingers to his mouth for a moment in an unmistakable gesture of repressed distress and frustration, Jack couldn't believe this could be a snake. This just had to be Daniel. He felt vaguely guilty about the Rothman comment, but he had no intention of correcting the mistaken impression he knew it had created. They really had to get going back to the dig site. Not only did they have a situation to deal with, but the quicker they got moving the sooner they'd be in a better position to sort all this out with Daniel.   
  
He reached back and pulled his knife from its sheath at his hip. Daniel could move a lot faster without that damned leash on. He was beside Daniel and Carter in four long strides. Daniel's strangled, "What are you doing?" and Teal'c's, "You must not, O'Neill," simultaneously arrived just as Jack grabbed the dangling end of the leash and touched his knife edge to the bundle of knots. He disregarded them both, and began to saw at the uppermost braid of leather. Teal'c's firm hand on his arm stilled the motion.   
  
Jack pulled the knife away from the rope, turning toward Teal'c. "Oh, Teal'c, come off it. You know how much it'll slow us down. There's no point debating this..."  
  
"Wh-wh-wh-wait! Yes there is." Jack glanced at Daniel and then looked away, deciding to studiously ignore him.   
  
"No, you are correct, O'Neill. There is not."   
  
Good. Great. Jack nodded and touched the knife to the rope again. Daniel pulled away, urging, "No, wait. You don't have to do that. You could just untie it -" but Jack quickly brought Daniel's hands back into place with a firm yank on the leash. He didn't cut, though, because suddenly the knife was moving in the wrong direction and his hand was left achingly empty. There'd be a bruise there on his thumb, for sure.  
  
Teal'c reached out and tucked Jack's knife back into its sheath. "He must remain bound."  
  
Jack disregarded the muttered, "Or not," which came from Daniel. He sucked on his thumb, wondered if he could possibly beat Teal'c to the draw, then quickly rejected the impulse as foolhardy.  
  
Teal'c apparently approved of his decision. He gave Jack the barest nod before continuing. "Major Carter is correct in her assessment. We assumed at least some of these symbiotes were capable of sophisticated manipulation and mimicry of the host. There is no way to determine for certain, but we may have been in error with such an assumption; that may or may not be the case. In any event, we cannot afford to be deceived once more."  
  
There was a indescribable squeak from Daniel. Jack looked up into alarmed, red-rimmed eyes. Daniel's second try was marginally better. "Wh-uaahhh... Jack?"  
  
As the meaning of Carter's message and Teal'c's words hit him, Jack's guts churned wildly. Teal'c was suggesting maybe the symbiote in Rothman hadn't been an overwhelmingly efficient mimic after all. _I would know it if there was a snake in my head._ Ah, crap. Rothman. The memory stung worse than the sharp bile at the back of Jack's throat. Crap, crap. Could the anxious Daniel standing in front of him in fact be one hundred percent Daniel, and at the same time be a host and not even know it? If so, then even if this was just Daniel, it might not be just Daniel.   
  
Headache. Bad headache.  
  
"Considering why SG3's here, Sir, maybe we should do this Teal'c's way for now."   
  
Well thank you, Carter. So nice to have you along to address all the indecision. Damn. But despite the sarcastic flea jumping around in his mind, Jack knew Carter wasn't out of line. He took a half-step back from Daniel, still holding onto the rope - the efficiently woven leather rope; far more elastic in its braided construction and possessing greater tensile strength than the nylon ties Hawkins and Rothman had snapped. Daniel stared at him. Jack looked at what he could see of Daniel's wrists, at the abraded skin there. The rope was darkly stained in the areas where it lay against the raw flesh. Okay, so the condition of Daniel's wrists looked unpleasantly familiar - only worse - but hell, it was natural Daniel would have tried to escape the bindings, be-snaked or not.   
  
Daniel was still staring at him. And hey, about the bit with the knife... Daniel sure wasn't especially eager to be rid of the supposed artefact when he'd had an easy opportunity, was he? Surely, just as Daniel had said earlier, a snake wouldn't act like that. Would it? No. No, it wouldn't. Rothman's sure didn't. Jack wished Daniel would stop staring at him like that.  
  
"Jack. Please, I have to know... What the hell is going on?"   
  
Jack wished Daniel would stop doing that, too.   
  
"Sir, our return will take us right past the last known location of Griff and Pierce."   
  
There she goes again. Truthfully, though, she was helping. It was a good thought, one which made the order to return directly to the dig site asap without detour or delay a whole lot more palatable. Right. It wasn't much, but it was something they could do, at least. But... Daniel. Okay, so they'd need to keep Daniel away from the bivouac site until they could be sure the coast was clear, which meant they'd have to separate for a few minutes in order for someone to scout ahead right before they got there. Not exactly desirable, but Teal'c could handle that. He wasn't at risk of possession.  
  
Jack looked at Daniel - really looked at him. This was either one very talented Goa'uld engaging in some damned well-refined and unbelievably thorough mimicry, or it was one chicken-shit devious son of a bitch Goa'uld capable of some artful manipulation of brain cells in order to lay lower than low. Generally Goa'uld symbiotes weren't known for their quiet reticence or subtlety, but the only ones who really knew how it worked - who'd know if it was possible for a snake to hide its presence from its host - weren't ones Jack figured he'd ever be sitting in interested conversation with. Wait. The Tok'ra would know... but hell, that didn't help much right now, did it? So as far as the Daniel problem was concerned, Jack figured he had no choice but to side with Teal'c and err on the side of caution. Not a very happy thing for Daniel to have to cope with, but a necessary evil.   
  
It was time to move on. Jack gave Daniel one last top to bottom, quick assessment. The beleaguered, overwhelmed expression on Daniel's face was mirrored by his posture and unsteady stance, making it clear he was pretty much mentally and physically exhausted. No matter if the snake was centre spotlight or waiting in the wings, even if they double-timed it to where they'd left the others it was a two hour hike, and that'd probably be about as much as could be expected from Daniel all at once. And of course, no way would Daniel be double-timing anything in his condition.  
  
"Carter at point. Teal'c, take our six." Without even thinking about what he was doing, Jack gave the rope a slight tug and started off toward where the dirt track entered the woods. "Daniel, you're with me in the middle." Daniel stared at him all the harder, and didn't move. Jack felt the pull in his hands as the rope stretched between them, and realised what he was doing. Carter's face was strained as she walked past him, an unspoken "isn't that going a bit too far?" in her eyes. Well, he couldn't argue with that one either. Grimacing an apology, Jack moved back over to Daniel and held him still with one hand on his hip while he tucked the length of the rope into Daniel's jacket, being sure to shove it all right on down in there as far as it would go. Daniel let out a grunt as he gave a little extra shove from both inside and outside, just to be sure it was well in there. Jack hastily looked up at his face. "What? That hurt or something?"  
  
Daniel looked away. "No. Nothing, no. Are you going to tell me what's going on?"  
  
If for no other reason than to ensure some cooperation, Jack knew he had to give Daniel at least something. He also knew that wasn't the primary reason his mouth was opening and the words being reluctantly shoved out. "Daniel, we bivouacked by the water last night, and only found out this morning a couple of guys with us ended up as snakebait. It wasn't pretty." He held up his index finger as Daniel's mouth opened. "No. Not another word. That's it for now. There are men missing, Daniel, and the damned planet is crawling with Unas and symbiotes. Hell, for all we know there could already be a whole mess of practicing Goa'uld-wannabes walking around in SGC uniforms out there. We have to go."  
  
Jack stepped away to follow Carter, but Daniel remained where he was. Immobile. No sign of the cooperation Jack needed from him. For a second, Jack was almost sorry he'd tucked the rope away out of reach, but then Daniel spoke. His shaky voice broke part way through as he choked out, "I'm... I'm not one of them, Jack."   
  
Jack walked back to him and placed his hands on Daniel's shoulders. This time as the thought this was _Daniel_ crossed his mind, he felt the truth of it. He was talking to Daniel, and only to Daniel. He squeezed Daniel's shoulders as he voiced it. "I know it's you I'm talking to here. I believe you."   
  
Trouble was, all things considered there was no joy in the knowledge the being interacting with him was in fact Daniel, only worry and apprehension over just how to figure out if his friend really was as alone in there as Daniel himself thought. Jack let go and briefly brushed one hand across Daniel's chest, giving him a small pat. "Look, we've been ordered back to the dig site. I've already made a couple of serious mistakes this trip, and I can't afford to make any more. Let's just go, okay? Get you home."  
  
Daniel slowly nodded, giving in. Jack knew there was a good chance he'd need to throw Daniel a bigger bone than that before this trip was over, but hopefully it'd be later rather than sooner. As they all set out into the woods heading back in the direction of the previous night's bivouac, Jack prayed they'd encounter what - or who - they needed to there, and not stumble upon anything they definitely didn't want Daniel exposed to just yet.   
  
They couldn't afford the delay.

 

* * *

  
  
A disgustingly bruised hip, leaden legs, myriad aches and pains. Oh, and blisters. Can't forget the blisters on his feet. His feet, going 'ouch' over yet another tree root, 'ow' into yet another irregular depression on the rough trail. Right. The trail. In the midst of one of the ever more infrequent moments of blurry awareness that there might be anything else other than discomfort and exhaustion in his world, Daniel foggily recognised the path they were following to be the same one he'd been dragged along by the Unas. The upcoming sharp bend to the right was very familiar. But that made sense, didn't it? SG1 had to have found the cave system by tracking him and the Unas, and gosh look at that, Cha'ka sure was easy enough to track. Daniel could see the impressions of his big clawed feet even now, a full night later, and if he could do it anyone could - gee look at that really clear one there and was that his own boot print right next to it? - and since they were apparently retracing their steps then of course they'd be traversing familiar ground, and was mental babbling necessarily significant in any way?   
  
It probably signified what he already well knew - he was about one scattered thought and one staggered step away from collapse. Okay, make it two. He stumbled badly on his second step and gave up, allowing his momentum to carry him right off the edge of the path and shoulder-first into a large tree to his right. The hike had started out all right, he'd managed not to limp too badly nor hold everyone back despite the grueling pace, but as they'd emerged from the deep woods onto the wide, scrubby dirt path, things had gone downhill. Or, uphill, actually. Which was, of course, in large part why he'd so rapidly gone downhill. He wasn't certain just how near to the bivouac site they might be, but it really didn't matter because there was no way his legs were going to carry him any farther without a rest. A nice rest. Daniel slumped against the tree and sniggered softly. Gr-rrr-rrrest.   
  
"Oh, hell. Not yet, Daniel."  
  
Sure, Jack. Just a quick second. Be right with you. Daniel's knees faded in and out on him, feeling as if they were trying to flex in ways never intended for a human joint. He snickered to himself again as they gave out entirely and he slid untidily down the tree. Apparently, he was about to gr-rrr-rrrest whether Jack agr-rrr-rrreed or not.   
  
Daniel stayed slumped against the base of the massive tree in the same position he'd ended up in as he'd slithered down its trunk - head bowed, his legs curled awkwardly underneath him and his bound hands in his lap. There was nothing but leafy green undergrowth in his field of vision, and only discomfort on his mind. He was peripherally aware of a conversation going on over his head. And slightly to his left. No, to the right. No, someone must have moved again, as the hushed voices now seemed to be coming from... from... whoa. A turn of his head only brought more of the long, slat-like leaves into view, but these twirled and spun, winding themselves into a hurricane of intersecting, overlapped fronds with a motion all too reminiscent of the way the leather trailers had flapped with every yank on the rope from his captor.   
  
"Damn. We're going to have to re-think this. It's what, Teal'c, about another forty minutes from here?"  
  
"At the pace we have managed thus far, that seems a reasonable approximation. However, I can make it in considerably less if I proceed alone."  
  
"Daniel?" Fingers held his chin, helping him to aim his gaze, and he saw that it wasn't the leaves but his perceptions which were doing all the dancing. Sam's head swam and looped, her eyes and nose undecided as to where on her face they belonged, her lips doing quick figure eights as she spoke to him. "Hey? Are you with me?" She turned her head, quickly looking away from him over her shoulder. With that movement, her hair performed a disorganised, rather sickening parody of Miss Clairol's latest and greatest proof that their hair colour was in fact the be all and end all of beeeootiful hair.   
  
"Sir, I don't think he's feeling very well." Daniel choked back a 'gee, you sure?' along with bile, as the tree behind him seemed to slip sideways and tilt backward in the same movement. Sam turned back to him, and he slammed his eyes closed against the vertigo when he was once more assaulted with the visual nightmare of chaotically free-flying hair. He felt her fingers move gently against his jaw, and her voice was soft, full of worry. "Hey Daniel, what's wrong? Tell me what's going on."  
  
"S'okay. Just..." Ohh, just dizzy. Very big, big dizzy. "It's just a bit of vertigo, Sam." He breathed deeply through his nose, feeling a stab of pain from every bruise on his chest and back each time his lungs fully expanded. He chose to ignore it in favour of getting as much oxygen in as controlled a way as he could. Fingers touched his throat just under his jawline, lingered momentarily, and swept just as briefly across his forehead, finally coming to rest cupped around the back of his head protecting the soreness there from the rough bark of the tree. Daniel leaned back into her hand, eyes closed, grateful for the support.   
  
"That's too far for any of us to go alone. We can't do that."  
  
"I will be fine. You can follow once Daniel Jackson is rested."  
  
"Daniel, when's the last time you ate anything? Uhm, Colonel, could you..." There were footsteps, followed immediately by crinkling sounds. "Oh, wow. Thanks, Sir."  
  
Other than one bite of an energy bar? That was a good question. Suddenly the scrunches and crumples were music to his ears, and Daniel bravely hazarded slitting his eyes open, pleased to find the dizziness already abating somewhat. Sam looked more or less just as stationary as she probably really was, crouched right beside him. He was equally pleased to see what she held in her hand. Not a crummy old 'mmmm' energy bar, but a large 'Mmmm' of his favourite brand of dark chocolate, the stamp of the European manufacturer delicately inset right into the bar in swirls of fine lines and curly embellishments. He raised an eyebrow at the unusual field ration, and a quirky smile teased the corners of Sam's mouth as she whispered with false confidentiality, "The colonel brought it for you."  
  
"No, Teal'c. It's out of the question."  
  
"It is the most expedient plan, O'Neill."  
  
Sam thrust the chocolate into his hands. "Here. Let's see if boosting your blood sugar might help some, okay?" There was an awkward moment as Daniel stared at the dark bar, feeling it begin to soften under the warmth of his fingers, trying to reconcile Jack's forethought in having packed the chocolate with his team's current doubts about him An inner voice snarked, 'but that was then, and this is now'. He grimaced and shelved the hurt as quickly as he could. It wasn't helpful. And hell, he had the chocolate, so why waste time dwelling on whether or not the gesture still stood as originally intended?   
  
"No, it isn't. We'll go; you stay. Carter..."   
  
Daniel took a big bite of his treat as he watched Sam join Jack and Teal'c. Jack glanced at him, and Daniel directed a small wave of the bar at him. A thank you, which to Daniel's dismay prompted not the 'yah, yah, welcome' nod he'd hoped for, but a look more indicative of grim doubt than anything else.   
  
"Sir?"  
  
"You and I are going to continue on to last night's bivouac, Carter. Watch each other's six, check out the area while we wait for them to catch up. Keep an eye out for signs of SG2, and... well, you know what else to look out for." Jack scanned the scrubby areas immediately lining the dirt clearing, then waved a hand in the general direction of the woods behind Daniel and his tree. "Teal'c, I want you and Daniel back there under better cover. Give Daniel a bit of a rest, and start out after us. We'll check in with you every fifteen minutes."  
  
Sam was fiddling with her radio. "We should switch channels, Sir. Avoid chatter on two."  
  
"No, leave it." Jack reached up and pulled his radio from its pocket. "You stay on two and monitor for SG3. Teal'c and I will go to four."   
  
Daniel sat head back against the tree, eyes closed, savouring his chocolate. He knew Jack wasn't ready to fill him in, so there wasn't much he could do here except go with whatever Jack laid out. No point in trying to join the conversation. He took another bite of the bar. His lips brushed against his fingers and he was startled to realise he was already pretty much finished; there was just a small piece left. As he tossed it into his mouth and stuffed his fingers in right on after it, intending to suckle them clean, he also realised the strategy session going on over his head had stopped. He opened his eyes to find himself the subject of unwavering scrutiny from all three of his team, and felt a faint blush rise on his face as Jack dryly observed, "You're only supposed to eat the chocolate."  
  
Teal'c was at his side in a couple of strides, placing one hand under his upper arm. Time to get up? Oh, right. Okay. Regretfully, Daniel gave his chocolately fingers a quick suck and removed them from his mouth. Standing up was easier said than done, though; pins and needles flared in his legs as he moved them, surprising him. How long had he been sitting here?   
  
Confused, Daniel glanced at his uncooperative legs, and then stared up at Teal'c. "My legs are asleep..."   
  
Jack was there with a hand under his other arm before Daniel even realised the man had moved. Between the two of them they hoisted him to his feet, holding on while he tried to work the intensely prickly sensation out of his legs. As soon as he was relatively stable, Jack let go and motioned to Sam. "Every fifteen, on four, Teal'c. If Carter hears from SG3, we'll pass anything you need to know along to you."  
  
At Daniel's side, Teal'c nodded. "Take care, O'Neill, Major Carter. Do not venture too near the water."  
  
Jack and Sam turned and moved away at a good clip, but just before they veered off to the right and out of sight around the bend, Jack stopped and jogged more than halfway back. He peered at Daniel. "You need to be able to move in twenty minutes tops, Daniel. Teal'c, make sure he drinks some water before you set out."  
  
Daniel frowned, shifting his weight on still rubbery legs, pretty sure not a whole lot was going to change for the better in just twenty minutes. Clearly reading his mind, Jack offered a terse explanation. "You've been sitting there sucking up chocolate for close to fifteen as it is, Daniel. It may not be enough, but it's all we can afford." Jack gave him one last up and down, and abruptly turned and jogged back to where Sam stood waiting. They were around the bend and gone in an instant.   
  
Close to fifteen minutes? He'd zoned out, then... no doubt a combined end result of not having slept nor eaten anything but the chocolate bar for well over twenty-four hours, and involuntarily being dragged for almost a full day through the forest while scared out of his gourd. Teal'c gave a slight tug on his arm, drawing him toward a small copse of trees with low-hanging leafy branches, surrounded by a mixed border of low-lying scrub and thigh-high brush. He led Daniel into the taller bushes, stopping in a small, one-person-sized bare area beside a fairly decently sized tree, and stood back as Daniel settled to the ground at its base. From his seated position Daniel could see through gaps in the surrounding undergrowth, but was fairly certain it would take a concerted effort on the part of anyone outside to tell the difference between his camo BDU's and the foliage.   
  
Daniel closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the tree behind him. His limbs were dead weights, his stomach rolling. Despite the analgesic tablets Sam had given him having dulled the pain in his hip, he felt wretched. He knew he needed at least a solid couple of hours downtime, not just a crummy thirty-five minutes, before he could move on at a decent pace for any appreciable distance. However, he wasn't indifferent to the need to cooperate as best he could. There was obviously something very wrong going on with the other teams. Although he didn't have the details the urgency was clear, the concern and tension written large on Jack's face and in his body language. Whatever it was had happened, it had shocked Jack, and that in of itself was pretty nerve-wracking. He'd have to do the best he could to keep up and not be a burden, sufficient rest or not.  
  
There was something else in Jack's manner, though, kindred to Teal'c's steadfast attempts to distance himself from Daniel and Sam's eggshell waltz around him. Despite all the current evidence, past experience, and common sense to the contrary they were still concerned about Goa'uld possession, which didn't make any sense to him at all. He was missing something. And not knowing what that 'something' could be was starting to actually frighten Daniel just as much as the Unas had. He forced himself not to think about it any more. Tried not to think of anything in particular, and found himself drifting off. Which was bad, of course, because for him inadequate cat-napping was just about the worst thing he could do. It'd suck him dry of any remaining energy he might have. He sagged against the tree and resolved to stay awake. Sleep was good, but ten minutes of sleep in place of eight hours was bad. Very bad. It was a very bad... it was... he needed to...   
  
Whoa! Okay, okay. He was awake. Not thinking about anything specific was obviously a big mistake. So, all right then, concentrate on something, only make it something not so scary as his situation. He felt the presence of the rope around his wrists, and focused on that, and on the Unas. On his success in establishing rudimentary communication with it... err, him. A major breakthrough. Okay, so, Cha'ka. First heard in the form of a chant, then again later as a single utterance more in the context of general acknowledgment than anything else, and finally seeming to be a kind of vocal gesture of kinship or inclusion. So it was obviously unlikely to be the Unas' name - that didn't fit the context of usage at all. But, wait. He'd already considered a possible interpretation of the 'ke' part of 'ke-ka' as being a verb form for a state of existence. What if he applied that theory to this? Then, Cha'ka might be interpreted as a generic reference distinctive to tribe, or possibly to a related state of being or existence? After all, like he'd thought before, it was entirely possible he was mispronouncing Cha'ka -  
  
Daniel started in surprise as he felt something solid rap him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes, squinting in the light. Teal'c lowered the end of his staff weapon from against Daniel's shoulder, and tossed an energy bar into his lap. "Consume this, and then we must leave. It is past time."  
  
"What? Why now?" Daniel unwrapped the bar, and obediently took a bite. "Is something wrong? Jack said twenty minutes, Teal'c. It hasn't even been fifteen; he hasn't checked in yet." Hey, this one was caramel. Good. A healthy portion of it disappeared into his mouth.  
  
"He has." Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him. "Twice."  
  
Uhh... no. Daniel frowned. He hadn't heard - oh, geez. Twice? A water bottle appeared in front of his face, and he accepted it with arms which still felt far to heavy to support even that light weight.  
  
"We have been here for thirty minutes, Daniel Jackson. It was clear you required the additional time."  
  
Oh. Uh oh. He aimed a rueful look at his friend. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise... uhh, well, thanks, Teal'c." Daniel stuffed the rest of the energy bar into his mouth, hastily chewed and swallowed, then took a sip of the water. He followed it up with a large gulp as he realised how thirsty he was.   
  
"You must drink sparingly. We have many hours of travel left, and we cannot replenish our water supply until we meet up with SG3 at the excavation site."   
  
That seemed a bit silly. "No, there's no reason we can't take water from local sources, Teal'c. Besides, the lake isn't the only option. There are plenty of streams." And in any case, it wasn't as if the symbiotes were completely undetectable or anything. Daniel squinted intently at Teal'c, as if his own concentration somehow would help Teal'c understand. "We know they're there now. As long as we keep our eyes open and don't take long, we should be fine."  
  
Teal'c surveyed the area around them, his head moving constantly as he focused his gaze everywhere but on Daniel as he answered. "That is imprudent." There was a dismissive harshness to his tone which set Daniel's teeth on edge.   
  
"No, going without enough water on a day long jog over rough terrain is what's imprudent. Like I said, we don't have to get it directly from the lake; there's lots of creeks and..."  
  
Teal'c swiveled suddenly and pinned him with a hard stare. "You would have us venture down to the water? That is not going to happen. Speak of it no more." Teal'c abruptly turned and walked away, out of the higher brush toward the wide dirt path.  
  
Daniel's temper flared, and he struggled to his feet, stumbling through shin-high brush as he followed Teal'c away from the refuge of his tree, letting out his frustration in a burst of passion. "Oh, come on! Please, give it a rest! Fine, so we avoid the lake, that's all. The dig team was here for three weeks, and I've been here for the last ten days of that, and all our water - cooking, bathing, drinking water - has come from the creek by the camp." Daniel raised his arms and stabbed a finger in the general direction of the lake he was pretty sure they were heading toward. He dropped the water bottle and it bounced into a thicket beside him. "The very same creek that obviously outlets from that lake, Teal'c, and nothing happened." The leash flapped and swung as he vehemently gestured first across the woods, and then at himself. "It's fine! We're all fine! Nothing happened. We did repeated water runs every day, and..."  
  
"Kree'tah!" Teal'c abruptly leaped toward him and yelled, leaning forward invasively, his staff waving in the air punctuating his words. "Do not tell me nothing happened! It did happen! We now know what occurred, and we and SG11 have paid the price!"   
  
"Teal'c!" Daniel staggered back at the unexpected lunge and violent outburst, and for a moment was actually afraid of Teal'c until he stepped away and turned his back on Daniel... until the reduction in Teal'c's physical aggression allowed the words to filter through Daniel's shock. The certain implication that something to do with the primitive symbiotes in the lake had in fact happened to SG11 hit Daniel hard. A chill washed over him, and his gut twisted to the point he thought he might cry out with the sudden stab of pain. His knees wobbling, Daniel allowed his feet to slide out from under him. The twang in his hip as he hit the ground was strong, but not strong enough to distract him from his steadily rising dread. Jack had said a couple of people on the rescue team had been taken, but this was different. Daniel realised with complete horror that this was _in addition to_ that. This, this was... oh, God, no.  
  
He could hardly think straight, could hardly breathe due to anxiety, and only barely managed to choke out the question, "What? What are you talking about?"  
  
Teal'c's voice was indistinct as he softly spoke without turning back around. "It is too high a price even now, Daniel Jackson, and we are not yet aware of the full extent of it. I fear we will pay further." Teal'c turned, looking Daniel square in the face. "I fear that you will pay. That you already have, but simply do not know it yet."  
  
Daniel stared incredulously at Teal'c, then had to turn his head away, appalled as it all suddenly fit together. Oh hell, so that was what Sam and Teal'c were implying with all that about his having been unconscious. Oh, God! No, there was no way! He'd know it if he had a symbiote inside his head; he would _know._ They were totally huge, physically, for one thing. Surely he'd feel it there. And Goa'uld symbiotes didn't work that way, even in their most advanced neuro-biological state... did they? But even if the Goa'uld could somehow do it, which they'd never seen evidence of before, how could these lesser developed -  
  
"I understand, O'Neill." Daniel jerked his head up to see Teal'c had walked a few steps away and was now standing in the low border of scrubby undergrowth right by the path, with one hand on his comm switch as he spoke into the radio. "We shall start out immediately." Short of breath, his chest tight with shock, Daniel could only blink in response as Teal'c signed off and advised him, "O'Neill has ordered that we leave here. Now."   
  
The hard, expectant look on Teal'c's face left no doubt. Daniel was to jump to, with no questions asked. He once again struggled to feet, more than willing to leave if Jack had said it was necessary, but as for the last part, well, screw that. He gave himself a quick moment, steadying himself while gaining control over his breathing, and then moved toward Teal'c. "Tell me what's going on, Teal'c." The Jaffa didn't answer, instead simply hefting his staff weapon, subtly pointing it in the direction they were to travel as Daniel waded through the brush and came up beside him. No. This wasn't good enough. Daniel stopped and set his feet, squaring his shoulders, letting his body language speak for him.  
  
Teal'c gave him a quick once over. Daniel caught the faintly resigned expression which flitted across Teal'c's face as he brought the staff back to his side, resting its base on the ground. "You are a stubborn man, Daniel Jackson."  
  
Daniel couldn't keep the hurt exasperation from colouring his tone. "Yeah, but you don't even accept I am Daniel Jackson any more, do you? That's why you're treating me like this, like I'm, like - that's why you won't give me the time of day."  
  
"It is mid-morning. And I accept many things. I accept that you may be Daniel Jackson, free of infestation. I also must accept the possibility this is not the case. And if it is not, then it is irrelevant whether you are speaking with me of your own free will unaware that a symbiote lays in wait, or are already subjugated and being elaborately, falsely represented."   
  
"Agh! Teal'c, please..." Daniel reached out, pleading. "I don't understand how you can even think that. In all your years with the Goa'uld, have you ever seen forced possession work that way? I am me, Teal'c. And I can be much more of a help to us if you trust me!"  
  
Teal'c's reply was brutal in its honesty. It hit Daniel like a hammer between the eyes. "No, you are wrong to ask this of me. Of the ones we encountered who were taken as hosts, with the second one the deception was so efficient that had it not made a slight error, we might all be dead now instead of having been forced to take that life as well as that of the first. No matter both your and my own wishes or hopes, I must assume the worst and act accordingly, for the protection of us all."  
  
Daniel tilted his head back and closed his eyes, his limbs flushing with sudden heat even as his gut turned to ice Of SG11, it wasn't just Loder who'd died. Two other men from SG11 were dead - oh God, who? - having been brutally possessed. Violently taken, because there couldn't be any other way for that to occur, there couldn't be... then killed just as violently, because no, there wasn't any other way for that either. This couldn't be happening. Couldn't be. But it was. Three men he'd worked side by side with for the last ten days were dead, and now his own team thought... they thought -  
  
No! This was ridiculous. He'd know if he was a host. Anything else was inconceivable, impossible. Wasn't it? Startled by a tug on his wrists, he jerked his eyes open and his head down to see Teal'c gathering up the rope which bound him. The resulting loose coil was shoved into his hands, and he stared dumbly at it. The tightly plaited strands of leather were still damp from the previous day, and filthy, mud and soil deeply imbedded into the lines of weaving. Small, dark bloodstains dotted the portions in direct contact with the skin of his wrists.   
  
He suddenly wanted it off. Needed it off. Gone. Right now! He could hardly breathe, he wanted it gone so badly. Daniel twisted his hands, pulling, sliding, pushing. He wasn't inhabited by a Goa'uld. He wasn't. It was impossible. Wasn't. This wasn't happening. He stared at the rope, saw how it snaked around and hugged his wrists possessively as he twisted in its grasp. He tried to make it go away, barely aware of the sting of roughened leather and dirt rubbing at already raw flesh. Oh God! It wasn't coming off. He tried again, harder. He needed it gone. It was choking him, wrapping tightly around, penetrating... choking -   
  
Oh, help. Please help. He was suffocating. It wasn't coming off... it wouldn't - Off! _Off!_ Get it off!   
  
"Stop!"   
  
Daniel was drawn back to full awareness with a jolt. Teal'c had his forearms held in bruising grips, pinning his arms down across his belly, stilling his frantic efforts to twist and pull his hands out from their prison. "You must stop. You are harming yourself."  
  
Daniel suddenly realised his hands were balled up into achingly tight fists, fingernails digging into his palms. He looked down at them, and felt an insane giggle rising. He was obviously 'round the bend, because he'd have been just as successful with pulling Floyd the Budgie through a keyhole, as with what he'd been trying to do. Chinese finger traps had nothing on him. God. Goa'uld possession. Three men dead. The near hysterical urge to laugh vanished immediately. His wrists burned under the ropes, and there was a moist sensation. He opened his closed fists, letting his hands go limp, and stared at the small amount of bloody serous fluid trickling from under the bindings, tracking down over the back of one hand.   
  
No, it wasn't true. He wasn't a Goa'uld. He knew it He wasn't. He was himself, complete, a free man. Before he could recover enough to stop himself he heard a cracked, almost inarticulate plea coming out of his own mouth. "Oh God. Please, help me. Please take it off. I'm not a Goa'uld."   
  
Teal'c's voice was surprisingly gentle, but the strength of his grip on Daniel's arms remained constant. "Listen to me, Daniel. Will you hear me?" With an effort, Daniel focused on Teal'c, nodding his head. Teal'c grunted an acknowledgement. "Good. There is danger here. SG8 guards the Stargate while SG3 is to retrieve us and SG2, as today in the pre-dawn hours of this planet a Goa'ulded member of SG11 arrived at the SGC through the Stargate. There was damage done, lives lost. SG3 advised Colonel O'Neill of this when we were contacted back at the caves. They advised that Major Coburn was found seriously injured a short distance from the encampment. As you rested here, it was reported to Major Carter they have now also found Sergeant Heath of SG2. He is dead."   
  
Daniel felt his gorge rise, his arms and legs go cold with shock. Oh, no no. Not just the three lost here. How many Goa'ulded, how many dead? Tom Heath. He was so young... Daniel gagged on his own spit. He tried to do a mental head count of the dig team but his brain betrayed him, instead producing the sounds and smell of gunfire, the image of Loder being catapulted across the clearing as a snarling mass clubbed the other man aside and bore down on him. In frustration, Daniel yanked against the ropes holding him, hissing as discomfort from raw skin momentarily flared. Teal'c's hands tightened on his arms, and Daniel forced himself to take a deep breath, telling himself to calm down, just bloody well _stop_ , because no way was this sort of thing going to help anyone.   
  
"There continues to be no response from Captains Griff and Pierce of SG2 to radio communication. We must leave here, rejoin O'Neill and Major Carter, and continue on to rendezvous with SG3. Do you understand?"   
  
Daniel brought his chin up, and slowly nodded. "Yes, I understand." He tried to keep the trembling he felt in his gut and limbs out of his voice. "Thank you, Teal'c. Thank you for telling me what's going on."  
  
Teal'c gazed at him with an intensity which was unnerving. "There is one more thing."  
  
Oh, please. Please, no more. Daniel gazed right on back, rubbed his lips together, and reluctantly, silently, steeled himself for the rest of the bad news.  
  
"In his most recent communication with me, O'Neill advises there are dangerous indigenous creatures in the woods - hunters similar to Earth's larger felines. We are advised to remain on the path as much as possible. You must stay close to me."  
  
Oh, well, yeah. Sure. Perfect. Wild man-eating lions, tigers, or whatever. Great. Why not?  
  
"As much as I may wish it, I cannot remove your bonds, Daniel Jackson."  
  
In a sudden moment of absolute clarity, Daniel understood. He hadn't grasped what was going on, what his team had been through and what their perception of the risks was based upon. And suddenly now he knew, in an almost blinding flash of insight, it wasn't Teal'c or the rest of his team who needed to have some trust and faith. It was him. He hadn't been taken by a symbiote - he couldn't have been... God, wouldn't he just have to know if he had? - but even so, still it wasn't the rest of them who ought to bear the weight of trust. They'd seen things he hadn't, knew of things he didn't.  
  
Daniel licked his lips, and ducked his head in dismayed surrender. "Yeah. Okay." It occurred to him Teal'c was just as upset over all this as he was, and deserved better than that evasive acknowledgement. He brought his eyes up again, forcing an assurance he knew he'd have to try hard to come to terms with from his lips. "I know you can't, and that's all right. It has to be. Teal'c, I tr-"  
  
No! A gut-clenching barrage of noise, Teal'c's eyes snapping wide open in surprise, his fingers on Daniel's arms spasming into rigid claws, his body pitching forward in a rough lurch.   
  
Daniel tumbled backward under Teal'c's bulk into the low-laying brush, his neck painfully snapping back then forward as they fell and Teal'c's shoulder slammed against his face, driving the back of his head into the ground. Pain blossomed, and in amidst it all he thought he heard a gut-wrenchingly sickening thwack. Blinking wildly in an effort to clear the rainbow of spots blooming in his vision, it became clear to him his head didn't hurt quite enough for that awful noise to have been him, and that he was pinned to the ground. Daniel yelled Teal'c's name and struggled to get out from underneath the bigger man, simultaneously becoming acutely aware that another rapid-fire volley of shots had erupted. Miraculously, the second burst of gunfire seemed to go wide, sending up sprays of dirt and small stones as the rounds dug impact pits into the ground a good five feet to the right of his little patch of green. Teal'c was a dead weight on top of him, unresponsive to both Daniel's shouts and frenzied shoves.   
  
Using his knees to push at Teal'c, bucking his own upper body forward and up, Daniel managed to flip Teal'c off him just as the second barrage silenced. He threw himself to his left, biting back a cry of pain as he rolled over something hard and lumpy and the bad thing in his left hip erupted just as shockingly as the sudden weapons fire had. Gasping, he completed his roll, and incapable of doing anything else curled into a ball on his right side. He shifted to press his hands down onto his hip, and after an initial flash of increased pain the pressure seemed to help slightly. Lifting his head, Daniel saw Teal'c laying on his back next to him, unmoving. There was a decent sized hole high in Teal'c's left shoulder, spilling blood over his vest and the side of his neck. The sight was a timely reminder of the situation. They needed better cover. Doing his level best to avoid being equally as good a target as Teal'c and he had been just seconds before, Daniel moved as quickly as he could to straighten himself out and crawl close enough to reach out to check Teal'c's carotid pulse. He was relieved by its steady presence.   
  
Daniel twisted at the waist to look around, to locate the closest better cover, wondering why whoever shot Teal'c had stopped shooting. Or, not. His knee crunched onto the dropped staff weapon just as a third attack was launched. The aim was improved this time, and dirt and leaves flew up into his face as the rounds came perilously close to hitting them. Grabbing the staff, Daniel acted upon a hunch and scuttled quickly away from Teal'c, and sure enough their attacker was targeting just him now. He fell back into a disorganised crouch as one leg jerked back sharply and he felt a burning sensation along the outside of his thigh. A slight graze, hardly more significant than the scrape on his face. But God, oh God, that was too close!   
  
Daniel snatched up the staff and rolled farther from Teal'c, gaining his knees with a grunt and swinging the staff weapon around, trying to reach back with one hand to thumb it to life. Damn! No! He lost valuable seconds as he was forced to rest the base of it on the ground behind him and slide both hands back along its length to activate it. The shooting stopped just as abruptly as it had before, and he breathed a sigh of relief. To assume anything, though, would be foolish; he knew he had to get organised pretty damned quickly. Uncooperative fingers fumbled on the shaft of the staff weapon in an attempt to hold it solidly enough and at the right angle to aim and fire, without shooting at the tree tops instead of in the general direction of the origin of the gun fire.   
  
The long staff tipped and swayed in his awkward double-handed grip, the balance all wrong. He'd be lucky if he managed to support it upright well enough to shoot anything below the horizon, never mind something only six feet above the ground, but he didn't dare try to stand up. He heard noises in the brush across the other side of the clearing, and just as the weapons chatter began anew, on the verge of outright panic Daniel thrust his arms up, holding the staff high into the air as horizontally as he could manage, and desperately let off a volley of shots of his own.   
  
He kept right on blazing away, indiscriminately returning fire, the muscles in his abdomen and arms clenching with effort and stress as he repeatedly hit the firing mechanism while fanning the staff in a wide semi-circle just above his head.

 

* * *

  
  
Carter stood hunched over beside him, her hands on her knees and her head down as she took a moment to recover her composure. Jack didn't blame her; he wasn't exactly nerveless right now either. He had been certain he'd heard and sensed something on their flank for the last five minutes or so of their jog along the trail, and they'd diverted into the woods off the clear path in order to have ready access to cover should they need it. Stupid thing to have done, really. The pair of animals stalking them - big four-legged, thick-hided, oversized cat-dog-jackal kinds of things, as it turned out - clearly were much more at home hunting amongst the trees than they were out in the open.   
  
They looked very much like the animals drawn on the cave walls, and Jack had chastised himself over not having anticipated their actual existence as he'd run away at top speed. Using the noisy P90's was best left as a last resort considering their overall circumstances, and it had been a flustered and anxious mad dash through the trees back to the beaten path until Carter had managed to wrestle the zat free from her holster while at a dead run. He looked at the carcasses which lay just in the bushes close to the edge of the trail, and fingered his radio.   
  
"Good thing they didn't like the idea of coming out onto the path." Carter straightened up, not so delicately reminding him of his error in judgement. "It was only because they hesitated that I had enough time to target them."  
  
Yeah. Why the hell hadn't they seen or heard any of these things before now?  
  
"You know, Sir, the pictographs in the cave roughly resemble these creatures. If the Unas depict these animals as being Unas prey, and obviously from the presence of these traveled pathways we're right into the middle of Unas territory, maybe that's why we haven't seen them before now."  
  
Yeah, okay. As good a reason as any, he supposed. Jack depressed the switch on his comm and hailed Teal'c. There was a prompt reply, and a short conversation during which it became clear Teal'c and Daniel were still right where he and Carter has left them, despite it being long past the time they should have gotten moving. So... Daniel. Dammit. Their chances of making it back to the Stargate before nightfall were looking pretty slim, if Teal'c felt it wise to give Daniel twice the recoup time they could really afford.  
  
"Sir!" One of Carter's hands gripped his arm tightly. "Wait!" Her other hand went up to her earpiece, and she frowned in concentration. Then she quickly reached down and depressed the send switch, speaking urgently into the radio. "SG3 niner, this is SG1. Radio silence. Radio silence. Unknown user on this channel, can you repeat? Unknown user, can you re-send? Over."  
  
Jack reset his radio to the standard channel just in time to hear a barely audible series of faint sounds waft through his earpiece. He covered his other ear and listened closely. It wasn't loud enough to be decipherable, but it was a voice. Soft, strained, more like an intermittent whisper carried on laboured breaths than anything else. He strained, closed his eyes for a moment, and thought he might have heard an identifier. He spoke into his comm. "Unknown caller, this is SG1-niner. Can you repeat identification? Please confirm. Over."   
  
And there it was. Carter's eyes rounded as she heard it too. Jack thumbed his radio switch again. "Right, we have you, Captain. Stay on this channel. Repeat, stay on channel two. SG3, transfer to channel one and confirm with Major Carter." Carter nodded at him in acknowledgement and switched over her comm as Jack spoke once again into his. "Griff, stay on your present channel and leave your comm switch set. We'll locate you on RDF. Confirm if able, buddy, but don't worry about it if you can't. Just leave the channel open. Over"  
  
There was a faint gasp of acknowledgement. Carter dug the powerful tracker they'd used with the UAV out of her pack, and handed it to him. She watched over his shoulder as he set it for the proper signal, extended the antenna, and slowly turned in a circle. He heard her gasp at precisely the same moment he felt all the air leave his own lungs in a rush. They were right on top of Griff. He was right here... somewhere, right... where? There! Carter was one her radio advising SG3 even as they both broke into a jog in the indicated direction, Jack calling into his own comm to let Griff know they had a lock on him.  
  
He practically dropped the tracker in alarm when he heard sudden, distant gunfire.  
  
"Sir!" Carter had her P90 up, despite that they both recognised it wasn't close enough that they were in danger. He lurched to a halt, but before he could identify the direction it came from, the weapons fire stopped. Carter's expression was grim as she turned to him. "SMG of some sort, Sir, set on full repeat fire. Can't tell from here if it sounds like a P90 or not... could be a - "  
  
Before she'd even gotten it all out, another muffled burst dotted the air with staccato discord. Jack looked from Carter to the tracker in his hands, to the woods surrounding them, then to back the way they had come. Back to where they'd left Teal'c and Daniel. Carter was checking with SG3, and before the short conversation had even ended she was glancing over to him with increased confusion and worry on her face. So no, it wasn't them doing the shooting, then. Crap! Jack hopped from one foot to the other, only just barely suppressing the urge to run pell mell back up the path the way they'd come.  
  
Carter was changing the channel on her radio even as she shook her head slightly. "Still, it may not be anywhere near there, Sir. I can't tell. I don't hear any return fire, and Teal'c has his staff."   
  
She spoke into the radio, hailing Teal'c. There was a pause during which she bit her lip, and Jack knew Teal'c hadn't answered. Damn! God damn it. He turned his attention back to the tracker, and set off at a jog as she tried again. They weren't sure where the gunfire was coming from or what it was all about, but they did know the rough whereabouts of Griff, and from the sound of his voice he wasn't feeling so hot. First things first. Find Griff.  
  
The tracker had Griff... whoa, right over there. Close by, very close by. Really strong signal. They must have run right past him on their way back to the pathway. A third volley of shots erupted in the distance. Jack tried to push aside his rising anxiety as Carter's calls to Teal'c obviously went unanswered, and instead concentrated on the RDF signal from Griff's comm. Suddenly Carter surged up alongside him, pointing into a clump of thick brush to their left as she whispered, "There! I see something, right there." Satisfied that she had her weapon at the ready as she slowly approached the bushes, Jack slung the tracker's harness over his shoulder and did likewise. The firing in the background stopped just as Carter called out a challenge to the dark form hidden in the brush.   
  
A bloodied, dirty hand poked out from amidst the heavy growth and erratically waved them over. It was followed by an arm and a shoulder, then the rest of Griff tumbled forward out of the clump of bushes just as they reached him. Carter knelt down next to him, releasing her backpack and grabbing it as it fell to the ground. The man was obviously in worse shape than he'd been when they'd last seen him. Jack frowned at the sight of bloodstains where there had been none before, and at the pain and fatigue etched on Griff's face. He tried to talk to them, but Carter shushed him, digging around in her pack and pulling out her medkit.  
  
Jack was just about to hunker on down next to them when he heard the next round begin, and... shit! No! No, no, no! It was all too clear exactly where the shooting was coming from. He froze in place as the unmistakable sound of Teal'c's staff joined with the submachine gun fire. One, two, three, four... he lost count of the rapid staff blasts almost right away. Whoever - or whatever - Teal'c was facing, it sounded like they weren't about to go down without putting up a hell of a fight.   
  
He stared down at Carter and Griff, the SG2 major looking like death lightly warmed over. "What's his situation, Carter?" His voice came out hoarsely strained. Rough, gravelly. Didn't even come to close to how he felt. The gunfire and the staff blasts continued, each whoomph of the staff feeling like a direct blow to his gut.  
  
"Shot, Sir. One through and through the thigh, one to the left flank. Other than the glancing staff wound from before, I can't find anything else obvious." Griff's face was distorted with pain as he clutched at her arm, nodding that she had it right, seemingly barely hanging on to consciousness. Carter was pulling various and sundry supplies out of the kit; gloves, pressure bandages, antiseptic, tape.  
  
The SMG cut off, but the staff was still firing. Thank God it wasn't the other way around. But... why was the staff still firing? Just what was Teal'c up against?   
  
Carter looked up at him from rummaging around further in her pack. "We'll be all right here, Colonel."  
  
No. That was out of the question. There were... snarly things... hunting in these woods. And Unas. And the stinking snakes. But there was also someone or something shooting at his friends, dammit. Carter was back on channel four, the same wavelength as Teal'c, so... Jack switched his comm over to channel one. "SG3, this is SG1-niner. What is your location?"   
  
His gut twisted further as he listened to the reply. Oh, not nearly good enough. They were only two-plus hours sunnyside of the SG11 base camp. Barely halfway from the dig site to the bivouac site, which was at least a twenty minute jog down the path from where he, Carter, and Griff were right now. Hey... come to think of it, why was Griff here, cave-side of the bivouac, anyway? No, never mind. Not pertinent right now. The important thing was that SG3 was hours away from being useful.  
  
The staff blasts stopped, and a split second later he heard Carter on her radio, again calling to Teal'c. Once. A pause. Twice. Then a third try. She caught his eye, patted Griff on the shoulder, and stood up. "Sir, those animals probably risked it only because he was injured."   
  
Yeah. Nice rich-smelling blood and all that. An easy target. But shit, Carter, who really gave a flying f-  
  
"The point is, Sir, I'm here now and he can manage a zat if need be." Her eyes urged him even more urgently than did her tone of voice. "We'll be just fine on our own, if you decide you have to go."   
  
Shit. Bad headache. Very, very bad headache.

 

* * *

 

Just as Daniel felt his arms give way and the head of the staff start to dip down toward the ground, the volley of gunfire cut off abruptly. He let off a few extra blasts just for good measure, and in between his last two shots he thought he heard an outcry coming from the direction he'd been firing toward. Okay! He threw himself forward onto his belly, intending to shimmy to the nearest clump of bushes for better cover, so he could get up to have a better look around. He came very close to letting out a cry of his own as it became clear that would be impossible. Not only was he laying on the damned rope, but having to hold the staff in the grip he did, there was no way he was going anywhere without rising at least back up onto his knees right where he was. And most likely getting his head shot off if their attacker was still there and able. Wait. Maybe instead of getting up, he could move by -

  
There was a moan from close by, and he glanced back over his shoulder. Teal'c was stirring, feebly moving his legs and tossing his head. Daniel gnawed on his lower lip. He had to get Teal'c under cover before it became obvious to their attacker Teal'c was still alive. He also needed to get that bleeding stopped, and contact Jack. Praying their attacker had been hit and was no longer able to target them, Daniel turned onto his right side, gathered up the trailing rope, pulled the staff weapon parallel to his body, and awkwardly rolled. Biting back a cry as his hip hollered in protest, he rolled to Teal'c and then maneuvered himself into a low crouch at the Jaffa's shoulders. Damn. There was blood, and not just from Teal'c's shoulder. The far side of Teal'c's head, the side turned away from Daniel... something... he couldn't see it very well. Oh no, God, please don't let Teal'c have been shot in the head!   
  
Thoroughly expecting to be caught in a hail or bullets at any second, Daniel's heart hammered in his chest and his breathing was harshly laboured. He had to move Teal'c somewhere safer where he could properly check him out, right now, but without getting them both killed. His eyes burned as he squinted into the distance trying to see anything and everything all at once. He sat next to Teal'c, his hands clenched in a death grip on the staff, aiming it roughly in the direction he thought the last burst of fire had come from. Waited, listened, eyes darting, muscles trembling, chest heaving.  
  
There was nothing.   
  
It took a minute for it to sink through the hyper-arousal. Nothing, there was... nothing. Only his own heartbeat slamming into his chest and head, the sound of his own irregular breathing, and the evidence of Teal'c's efforts to wake up. Move! Do it now! Get, while the getting was good! Daniel struggled to his feet and bent to grab hold of Teal'c. He hovered there for a second, puzzled as to why something didn't seem right, then with a disgusted imprecation directed at himself threw the staff weapon behind him into the nearby thicket of bushes.   
  
Tossing the end of the rope across Teal'c's chest, Daniel reached out to grab the back of his collar, only to immediately freeze and stare in heightened anxiety at the puddle of blood which stained the earth beside Teal'c's ear. He gently rolled Teal'c's head, screwing his eyes shut for a split second as his team mate twitched and moaned loudly, and then felt his heart settle back into its proper position in his chest at the sight of not the damage from a bullet as he'd feared, but an ugly gash centered in a swelling bump just above Teal'c's ear. The thwack he'd heard? Daniel scanned the ground, and yeah, there it was, a large rock right by Teal'c's head, stained with blood. He hoped the impact had only been enough to knock Teal'c for a loop, resulting in a concussion and nothing worse. Teal'c hadn't been out for longer than a few moments, so maybe they'd be lucky and that's all it'd be. Even though it was a head injury, Daniel had to admit it was a relief all the same - potentially a hell of a lot better than the headshot he'd feared. Which was still a possibility for the both of them if he didn't get a move-on and get them under cover.  
  
He grabbed the collar of Teal'c's jacket, and pulled with all his strength. Teal'c slid with him as he took a step backward, but the movement seemed to bring awareness of the pain, and Teal'c reacted with an uncoordinated attempt to resist the pull on his jacket. He groaned out an objection in Goa'uld, dug in his heels and tried to roll away from Daniel's pull. Even as disorganised as the attempt was, it was enough to interfere with Daniel's balance and he pitched sideways onto the ground. He felt a hand on his ankle, then a sharp twist, and kicked out in an attempt to free himself, without success. Teal'c was gaining strength as he woke, twisting around to grab at Daniel. The Goa'uld he was spouting ever more loudly with each passing second made it clear he was confused.   
  
"Mai'tac! Jaffa, sha'lokma'kor!"  
  
Daniel lay passively, neither resisting nor attempting to touch Teal'c. He spoke urgently as Teal'c kicked out and clawed at his leg, evidently believing Daniel to be an assailant. "Teal'c! Teal'c, it's me, it's Daniel. It's all right... please, Teal'c, shhhh... quiet... you have to be quiet."  
  
"Kree, Jaffa! Tau'Ri!" Teal'c lurched forward, raising his shoulders off the ground, shouting, "Shimrota! Sha'lokma'kor ha'ta'aka Tau'Ri!"   
  
Daniel winced over his own stupid mistake, then grimaced as Teal'c viciously dug his fingers into his thigh. Teal'c's aim was inadvertently exquisite. The iron grip shifted and Daniel felt a stab of heat and flush of moisture from the graze on his leg. His heart in his throat, Daniel corrected his error and spoke softly in Goa'uld to Teal'c, anxiously scanning the treeline across the clearing, certain they were about to be gunned down at any moment. He urged Teal'c to stop and listen. "Teal'c, ne'nai, ne'nai. Ni'ya! Kree'ta, mid`cha." To listen to who he was, what had happened, and what they had to do. "Mid`cha... Daniel... Daniel, swaic? Tau'Ri Ash'rak, Teal'c, ki`bunja`swei."  
  
The grip on his leg slowly relaxed as he repeated his message over and over. Teal'c sank back down to the ground, his breathing ragged and eyes closed. "Kel'sha, Daniel Jackson. I am sorry."  
  
Daniel twitched out a small smile of relief, and quietly returned Teal'c's greeting. "Kel'sha, Teal'c. Do you think you can move? Get up?"  
  
Teal'c let go of Daniel's leg, and with Daniel's help he sat up. His face twisted with pain. "You said we must hide... from an assassin. You believe there is yet another taken by a symbiote?"  
  
Daniel climbed to his feet and ineffectually pulled at Teal'c with his bound hands, trying to assist him to stand up. "Well, someone shot at us, Goa'uld or not. Hit you. I'm, I think..." He gasped as Teal'c grabbed him around the waist and pulled himself part way up using Daniel as a support pillar. Ouch. "I'm not sure, but I think I might have got him with a staff blast. I don't know. At least, it looks like he's stopped shooting for now anyway. But we have to get under cover."  
  
Teal'c made it to his feet, but immediately staggered back down onto his knees. He hung with his arms around Daniel's waist, his hands clutching at the back of Daniel's jacket, head lowered, gasping. Daniel's worry skyrocketed. Teal'c had suffered wounds far worse than the shoulder injury and still had been strong as a bull elephant. "Teal'c? What is it? Are you hurt anywhere other than your shoulder and your head? "  
  
The reply was muttered, but certain. "No. Nothing further." The embrace around Daniel's waist weakened and Teal'c slumped further, his body leaning against Daniel's legs, head pressed against Daniel's hip and slowly sliding southward. He was in danger of slithering right on down to fall flat on his face. Daniel's shaky legs didn't feel up to the task; he was hard pressed to keep his balance and stay upright.  
  
"Pa'kree, Teal'c? Then what's wrong?" Teal'c just shook his head. A mumbled apology turned into a slur of words which seemed to include something about being dizzy, and then his full weight sagged against Daniel in a pull he was helpless to fight against. Wobbly knees gave in of their own accord, going with the flow, and as Teal'c lost consciousness Daniel just barely managed to avoid them becoming irretrievably tangled together in a jumble of arms and legs and the trailing end of the rope as they fell. Damn. The only explanation was the head injury. A bad concussion, then, at least.  
  
Crap! A sudden crashing of brush from across the other side of the open dirt area scared the shit out of him. Daniel jerked upright, Teal'c in a crumpled heap at his feet. He came within a hair's breadth of losing control of his contracted bladder as the sound of something large moving without caution through the woods opposite was repeated. No! Oh God no, not now! He bent over and grabbed at Teal'c, but he couldn't get a strong enough grip to actually shift the big man. Shit! Shit, shit! There was a sudden hair-raising inhuman shriek from the woods, and Daniel felt his testicles retract to safety inside him with astounding alacrity. He'd never known any part of him was capable of moving quite so fast. Hysteria edged close as he thought, gosh, now if he could only get the rest of him, and Teal'c, to someplace presumably safe with such efficiency.   
  
Another crash came from across the way, and without conscious forethought Daniel snatched up the trailing end of the leash to pass it under Teal'c's arms. He frantically tried to shove it all the way around, to create a noose surrounding Teal'c's upper body, but the bulky backpack was in his way. He unsnapped the pack quickly and discarded it, locking the rope into place against Teal'c's back by placing his knee on it, so he could bring his hands back around to grab the free end. Snugged the resultant noose up under Teal'c's armpits. Stepped back, and pulled. And pulled again, trying to ignore the way Teal'c's head lolled and his body scraped against the ground. No time. No time. There was more noise from beyond, and another howl. No time! Pull! Again... and again. His arms and legs trembled as he dug his heels into the ground with each haul. Step back, dig in, pull. Step back, dig in, pull. He stumbled through scrubby undergrowth that snatched at his burden and increased the difficulty, grunting with exertion, his left hip twanging miserably. Mai'tac! He wasn't fit for this... too tired, too sore... too shit-scared.  
  
God! Gunfire erupted. Rapid-fire bursts like before, only this time much shorter and erratically intermittent. Daniel couldn't locate the precise direction they came from, didn't know where they were aimed at; and didn't even try to figure it out. The rope burned into his palms as he threw himself backward with every bit of strength he had, and oh thank God, landed in suddenly waist-high bushes. Sitting on his butt, he dug in his heels and leaned back, pulling Teal'c right up onto his lap, and abandoned the rope in favour of a grip on Teal'c's utility belt. He scrabbled backward inch by inch deeper into the brush, yanking Teal'c along with him, and only stopped when he sensed the large tree he had lounged against earlier at his back. Daniel collapsed against the tree, dragging in shaky breaths. What now? The staff. He had to go find the staff weapon. And the pack. There might be a medkit in the pack. But first - He dragged Teal'c to the base of the tree, checked his pulse and breathing, and managed to arrange him into a fairly acceptable approximation of the recovery position.   
  
The intermittent shooting stopped. Daniel absently wondered just how many clips the guy had, and how much of each was used up with each burst. He knew it'd depend on what he was using - if it was a weapon from SG2 or from SG11 - and while he understood the reason why a member of SG11 might be firing on them, the possibility that such a disaster might have fallen upon the missing members of SG2 was beyond tolerable. Daniel wasn't sure if what he was hearing came from a P-90 or from a - Oh hell, did it really matter? Bullets were just as deadly no matter who was holding whatever barrel they spat from. Get going. He pushed up onto his knees, telling himself again that the pain in his hip and pelvis was nothing, just a twinge, as he moved off to one side from Teal'c in order to put some distance between them before making himself a moving target. He allowed himself one quick glance back toward Teal'c, and taking a deep, shaky breath, began to snake his way through the brush back to where he'd thrown the staff and left Teal'c's pack.   
  
Daniel moved slowly and carefully in order to avoid disturbing the bushes around him too noticeably. Already overtaxed muscles cramped with the tension of such precisely controlled movement, and he was so tightly strung that even the faintest noise not of his own making brought him to an abrupt, terrorised halt no matter the inconvenient position he happened to be in at the time. It was great fun. A laugh a minute. Abruptly, his knee found the staff weapon, crunching sickeningly as his kneecap impacted with the hard rim of the head of the staff and shifted in his joint as his knee rolled off the edge. A wave of nausea and dizziness accompanied the painful grating sensation, and with his stomach churning Daniel flopped forward to lay on the ground, trembling, supporting his upper body on his forearms to keep his face out of the undergrowth. His knee joined with the rest of his aching body in throbbing in time with the ebb and flow of acid in his throat, and he started to seriously doubt his ability to continue on even once the queasiness did subside.   
  
It was all too much. He didn't know how to do this. Couldn't do this. Taking in slow deep breaths, Daniel fought against both his emotions and the nausea, dipping his head to allow his forehead to come into contact with his fisted hands on the ground. He couldn't handle this. He was so tired. Would a host to a symbiote be this exhausted, Jack? He choked back the cry welling in his throat, the remains of his composure all but crushed under the weight of an intolerable burden. Overwhelmed. Worn out. Needed to close his eyes, to sleep. To grr-rrr-rest.. slow his breathing, relax his aching muscles. Recharge the batteries. Let go... let it all go, just for a godammed blessed moment... just -   
  
No! Oh God, wake up! Teal'c was helpless. Teal'c needed him. He had to do it. He had to... to... whaa...? What did he have to do? He was crawling around for a reason, here, wasn't he? Damn it, get it together! This was no time to fall apart, to give up. Disgusted with himself, Daniel gave his head a sharp shake both to wake himself up and to rattle his brain into some semblance of rational functioning. He vaguely felt the stem of the staff weapon laying under his thigh. Right. Yes, that was it, get the staff. Protect Teal'c. And, and... and what else? What... oh, that's it, yeah, he had to find the pack and do what he could to treat Teal'c's wounds. Okay, good, the juice was starting to flow again; he could think a bit more clearly now. Promising he wouldn't allow himself to lose it again until they were well and truly safe, Daniel collected himself to move on. He had to find the pack, get back to Teal'c, and he had to use Teal'c's radio to contact Jack and Sam.   
  
Daniel rolled onto his side and extracted the staff from underneath him. Holding it awkwardly, he pushed himself up into a crouch, testing out his knee against the ground. His kneecap was on the way far side of tender, but now that the initial shock had subsided it wasn't so painful as to be immediately disabling. The larger problem was to figure out how to move without the staff either poking up in the air above the brush and giving away his position, or getting in his way as he tried to crawl quietly through the bushes. How the hell he was going to manage both the staff and the pack, once he found it, without figuratively erecting a flashing neon sign pointing to himself? Okay, hang on... here, this was good. Moving with the staff angled carefully in front of him, he could half-lay on his right side, and use his hip and elbow to propel himself carefully along. Not too much visible movement of the brush around him, if he continued to be as caref - Shit! Oh, shit!  
  
All care vanished under a flood of panic as a barrage of noise erupted and spurts of dirt and torn foliage splattered his head and shoulders. No! He rolled as fast and as far as he could in the opposite direction to where the shots had hit the ground, knowing within the next second it was hopeless. The hail of bullets erratically followed him, not right on target but definitely moving along in the same direction as him. There was a moment's lull, and full well knowing there was no way he could endanger Teal'c by going back toward the cover of the thicker brush, Daniel used the end of the staff as a support and lurched to his feet. Fully upright, leaning against the staff, he whirled quickly and caught a glimpse of a dark shape moving through the bushes at the edge of the woods to his left, on the far side of the wide clear pathway.   
  
Just as the figure stopped, straightened up, and squared itself off facing right at him, Daniel marshaled every drop of the adrenaline threatening to immobilise him and frantically broke to his right. Away from the clearing, away from the bushes concealing Teal'c, and away from his attacker. He ran with everything he had, chanting at himself to 'go-go-go-go-go' as he leaped over small bushes and dodged the larger ones. The staff waved chaotically, low undergrowth dragged at his feet, and through his panic he was aware of his knee feeling spongy, hurting with every step, and his hip twanging mercilessly. His throat closed up to seal in everything but the most meagre of wheezing breaths. He didn't think he was going to make it to the edge of the woods.   
  
No, don't think that way. He could. He had to. No choice. Stopping to try to get organised enough to aim and fire the staff without the cover of the deep woods was patently foolish. This was the only way. He had to make it. Do it or die. He was acutely aware of being pursued, of the noisy crashing of brush somewhere behind him, and then the gunfire came once more, following him all too closely behind as he finally hurdled over the deadfall that marked the edge of the woods. Daniel pelted into the heavy forest and kept right on going, zigzagging amongst the trees, running blindly in whatever direction the going seemed easiest. The gunfire behind him was replaced with a fairly constant howl of what Daniel interpreted as frustrated rage, with an edge to it he sincerely hoped was evidence of pain. He crashed through the woods, not really caring where he was going - that he was being chased was obvious, and as long as he was leading this thing-person-whatever away from Teal'c any direction was as good as another. Holding the staff angled closely across his body in an attempt to avoid whacking any trees with either end of it, his two-handed grip almost painfully tight on the weapon, he had to struggle to keep his balance and avoid tripping over it and the wildly flapping leash.   
  
Daniel struggled to keep moving for what seemed an eternity, time seeming to slow to a crawl, the trees passing by in a contradictory slow-motion blur no matter how quickly he tore past them, his limbs moving as weighted by sandbags. Through his increasingly impossible fatigue, it occurred to him there was no way to tell if the noises he was running from were of his pursuer's or his own making. He knew the shooting had stopped, the howling was an unpleasant memory, and really, he had no way of knowing if his attacker was even still back there. He kept going anyway, for Teal'c's sake he hoped, tripping and crashing his way through the woods, his strength and coordination steadily degenerating until forward motion was more like some desperate parody of the night before the morning after than it was a means of escape from a threat.   
  
A painfully disabling stitch in his side joined with the staff and the trailing end of the rope to defeat him as he stumbled badly over them, and was sent crashing hard to the ground in a narrow space between two large trees. He lay sprawled amidst protruding roots and fallen branches, eyes squeezed shut against the fire in his side, barely able to breathe, the loud thumping of his own heartbeat in his ears all but completely obscuring awareness of any other sounds. Every cell in his body was telling him there was no freaking way he'd be going any further. He tried to concentrate on relaxing his cramping muscles, breathing in irregular gulps of what seemed not nearly enough air to support life, and haphazardly thought about making an attempt at climbing to his knees to... to... oh, God, he felt sick. Maybe he'd just lay there for a bit longer. Just for a bit.  
  
As the stitch in his side settled down and his brain started to catch up to his heartbeat, Daniel remembered the chase and groped for the staff. He was in a race for his and Teal'c's lives here, and couldn't afford this. He had to get up, get ready for what was out there. Opening his eyes and raising his head as a starting point, Daniel immediately discovered that in this second heat of this particular race the start and finish lines were one and the same. A sickening flush of warmth ran through his body just as strange pinpoints of white appeared in his field of vision, and he abruptly passed out.

 

* * *

  
  
A training run. Just do it as if it was a training run. Consistent pace, controlled breathing. Balance, shoulders square, good arm movement. Eyes ahead. No wasted energy, no wasted time.  
  
Jack spared a quick glance at his watch as he ran. He and Carter had found Griff forty-six minutes after they'd left Teal'c and Daniel, but part of that time had been spent in dealing with the beast-things, and then tracking Griff's signal. If they'd left the path at around... okay, yeah, that was about right. Griff's position was about thirty-five minutes out from Teal'c and Daniel, at the moderate jog he and Carter had used until the local version of sabre-tooths had scared him into stupidity. Just how many mindless, bad decisions was he going to make on this trip?  
  
Thirty-five minutes. So, as long as he kept his pace even - if he could maintain this fast a run without bursting a lung or his muscles tying up - it looked like he'd make it in something over twenty. He'd been steadily running at this clip for close to fifteen minutes so far, and the surrounding terrain helped to confirm his calculations for him. He recognised the treeline along here, and the dips and curves of the pathway. From what he could tell he was just about ten minutes out from where he needed to be. Provided he could keep this up.   
  
Tem minutes. Crap, what a balls-up mess he had made of this! Ten minutes was about how long he'd loitered back there with Carter and Griff, outwardly adopting a manner of self control and decisiveness - trying to convince them and himself that he knew what he was doing, that his staying with them there had nothing whatsoever to do with procrastination and uncertainty. Trying to convince himself they'd hear from Teal'c any moment; his friend would calmly announce over the comm that no, O'Neill, of course there was no problem. Nothing other than a small matter calmly and efficiently dispatched. And that Daniel Jackson was in fact Daniel Jackson and had nothing to do with anything. They would all smile, and everything would be fine. But then they'd heard more gunfire, this time unaccompanied by the sound of the staff. Some minutes after that there had been yet more, fading off into the distance as Jack had stood there impotently, all too aware of Carter's renewed unsuccessful attempts to contact Teal'c... all too aware that the staff weapon was far, far too silent.  
  
Fear of the unknown pushed him on, his sense of urgency growing as he got closer with still no word from Teal'c, and with no sign that his two team mates had been this way. His eyes continually multi-tasked, both watching out for possible hostile activity and carefully scanning the ground and the surrounding treeline for signs that anyone other than he and Carter had passed through here recently. There was nothing. Jack felt his legs beginning to burn, and his ankles were sore from the uneven ground. He forced himself to push past it. Easy on the breathing, count off the steps, maintain the rhythm. Just like on a training run. God, what a mess. He'd told Teal'c to give Daniel fifteen minutes, then to set out. They'd taken more, sure, but if they hadn't even got this far it was possible whatever had happened to them had started even before he and Carter had heard the first burst of weapons fire. His fault. He'd had a man operating at far less than one hundred percent who was possibly compromised, maybe even posed a threat to them, and what had he in his great wisdom done? He'd separated the team anyway.   
  
Damned if he hadn't just done it again, too. Carter was back there with Griff, who was oh so _so_ less than one hundred percent that the man had barely been able to breathe much less tell them what had happened to him and Pierce after SG1 had left the bivouac site. Anger at himself distracted him, and Jack stumbled slightly on the path, cursing as he narrowly avoided falling. At this speed, that'd hurt big time. Okay, an object lesson. He had to stop this fretting over what was already done, and get back on track with dealing with the results. But that was hard; he'd just left Carter alone even despite knowing he'd made the wrong decision with Teal'c. What else could he, should he, have done though? An echo of a never-to-be-missed wry voice sounded in his mind, drawling out one word... 'choiceless'. Yeah? Choiceless? Well, fuck that, ArseButt. So not true. There were always choices, sometimes just not ones which were easy to make. Subject closed. Just get on with it, and save the dissection for later.  
  
Two minutes, now. Jack's lungs felt like rocks, and the accessory muscles in his chest and abdomen were working hard to keep him supplied with enough air. He slowed, ever alert to his surroundings, shortening his stride to settle into a slow jog. Once he'd spit out whatever saliva he was too short of breath to swallow that had not already run down his chin, and felt he would be able to speak, he reached up to key his radio. He was on channel four - Teal'c's frequency - with Carter, and they'd set Griff's comm to channel one for Carter to communicate with SG3. He thumbed his activation switch and in a whisper asked Carter for an update. She advised him Griff was hanging on, seeming a bit stronger. That was good. All was quiet so far. That was even better. SG3 was making steady progress toward them, with no new encounters or discoveries. That was both good and bad. Jack told Carter where he was, that she should maintain radio silence with him as he scouted the area for any sign of Teal'c and Daniel, and signed off.   
  
He reached the onset of the gradual bend in the trail, and quietly moved over to the inner edge of the wide dirt pathway, making his way slowly around the curve. Weapon at the ready, he slowly advanced until he could see the first clump of trees, and beyond that the tree where he and Carter had left Teal'c standing with an exhausted Daniel. Past that was another copse of trees, surrounded by much heavier brush cover. The entire area was quiet, and apparently unoccupied. Where the hell were they? Jack moved again, coming right the way around the bend to fade quietly into the trees along the trail as he approached closer. He skirted the open area keeping to the edge of the woods, and when he was a good one hundred sixty degrees from where he started, halfway around to the backside of the heavy growth of brush surrounding the far cluster of trees, he paused for a moment. There were clear signs of someone, or something, having entered the woods here; the crushed undergrowth, torn leaves, and broken twigs on the bushes were dead giveaways. Daniel? Teal'c wouldn't leave a messy trail like this. He reached out to gently finger one of the thicker branches, and felt the residual moisture at the point where it had snapped. So... not too long ago.   
  
Jack was torn between following the swath of destruction into the woods and turning back to properly explore the immediate area. He hesitated, gazing first into the clearing and at the far trees where he had last seen his team mates, and then into the woods behind him. Five minutes. He'd take five minutes to check out the site where they had rested, and then he'd set out to follow the trail of who or whatever had crashed into the trees here. That decided, Jack did a quick survey, and then made a rapid dash to the first cover on his way back to where he'd left Teal'c and Daniel. He skidded into knee-high brush that quickly tangled up his feet, and he slowed, stepping more carefully into the waist-high cover around the trees. Ignoring the trees themselves, he circled around the perimeter of the thick brush to the other side in order to head over to their resting place. Once out of the thick growth here, the space between the two groves of trees was more or less wide open, and although he'd had no tingles or hair-raising premonitions, he'd have to be careful in the open... would have to make a dash for it just in case.   
  
Cutting the angle, he inched past the larger tree to his right and stepped out at a crouching run. Shit! All at once, there was an indefinite sensation under his boot, his ankle twanged, something cracked loudly, and moisture flew up into his face and neck. Crap! No! His thoughts muddled as panic surged, Jack frantically threw himself off his feet toward the trees, the certain knowledge he'd stepped on a boobytrap and had just been showered with his own blood sickening him beyond rational thought. He was going to puke. Oh, fuck, he'd done it now. He'd killed himself. He landed in a heap, struggling to keep both his head and his P90 up, his heart in his throat and his guts churning with dread, his breathing harsh and laboured.   
  
It took him several seconds of lying there frantically listening for the approach of his unseen enemy coming to finish him off before he realised that, hey, nothing actually hurt after all. What the hell? Jack hazarded a quick glance down at his leg as he swiped a hand across the base of his neck. Yep, that was a leg, all right, and what the hey? His hand was damp with... water? Momentary puzzlement dissolved into relief, followed by bubbling laughter he did not dare audibly release, as Jack realised he was just fine. It was only water, and his foot was exactly where it had always been in the same condition it had always been. Okay! The giddy relief turned to embarrassment, even though there was no one there to have seen his... ah, display. Jack flopped over onto his back on the ground, took deep cleansing breaths, and peered over toward where whatever he had stepped on had been stepped on. Just over there, hidden in the brush. He lie there for a moment before pushing himself up, ruefully figuring he'd best go check it out. Maybe it was something Daniel might be interested in... some primitive Unas-y leather or intestinal-gut-stuff version of a water carrier, or something equally as not-thrilling. An _artifact._  
  
What he found chilled his amusement into a block of ice in his chest. He found the nozzle top first, a good foot from the container itself. The top had obviously flown off when he'd stepped on the water bottle. Teal'c's water bottle. Last seen securely fastened to Teal'c's utility belt. Damn. Jack picked up the broken bottle, turning his upper body to do a slow sweep of the area. Where ever Teal'c and Daniel had got to, they were without water. Not something Teal'c would willingly have happen, that's for certain. What else might have been left behind? Could that be the reason they hadn't heard the staff firing toward the end there? That it was lost, dropped? No. For Teal'c to drop the staff, he'd have to... stop it. Stop that thought right there. Grimacing, Jack tossed the bottle into the closest thicket and started a thorough search of the undergrowth around him.   
  
Finding the water bottle was a bad thing, an omen he didn't welcome in the least. Finding its owner defied description. Sucked big time. Weak movement of Teal'c's right hand where it lay on his chest told Jack he was alive before he even made it to Teal'c's side, but the shock and fear had already welled up in him at the sight of the man lying there under the tree, mostly hidden in the bushes. His hands were trembling slightly as he reached out to gently check Teal'c's carotid pulse, noting the large bloodstain high on Teal'c's left shoulder and the dark smears of blood on his neck. There was only a low moan in response as Jack gently tapped him on the face, so he tried turning Teal'c's head toward him. Teal'c's eyelids fluttered, his fingers mirroring that movement on his chest, and then Jack caught sight of the laceration on the side of his head. That had to be the reason why Teal'c was so minimally responsive. A head injury. Oh, fun. Just what they needed... not.  
  
Judging from the way the bushes Teal'c lie in had folded back over him, and given the stiffness of his uniform where the blood was all but dry, this had happened a while ago, most certainly before the last volley they had heard some thirty-plus minutes ago. Jack swiveled his head, looking around for the staff weapon, and upon not seeing it anywhere close by suddenly realised there was something else that was nowhere in evidence close by, either. Or, make that, not something but someone. Ah, no, dammit. Teal'c was here in the bushes, injured, and Daniel was nowhere to be seen. He pushed aside the worst, most obvious implications as unlikely. Daniel had been securely tied up last he'd seen him, and Teal'c was no slouch. God _damn_ it, Daniel! Where in the hell could -  
  
No! Ah fer crying out - Damn! Jack dove on top of Teal'c as the foliage around them was suddenly ripped to shreds in a hail of bullets. He realised his mistake immediately and rolled to the left, as far from Teal'c as he could manage in one big push, hauling himself up, the P90 already scanning for a target before he'd even made it onto his knees. Pinpointing the direction of the threat as being just behind him, Jack swiveled in a wide semi-circle, already firing on full repeat as he clambered the rest of the way to his feet. He broke left, releasing short bursts toward the direction he thought the enemy fire originated from, staring intently into the trees. And...yes! There! A sudden muzzle flash, just barely bright enough against the backdrop of the forest that he could see it. Dirt kicked up all around him even as he continued to run to his left, but Jack ignored it in favour of concentrating on his own aim.   
  
No go. He'd missed. Crap. Did he even want to hit the target? What if it was... no. No way Daniel could have a submachine gun. From where? He ran in a zigzag pattern toward the treeline, keeping his eyes on the telltale flashes. There was a long pause of nothingness, and for a moment he thought maybe the guy had pulled back, but then the shooting began anew... only this time, it was a different weapon. Damn it! It was a P90 now, distinctive in tone, whereas up until this point he had was pretty sure he had been facing something else, possibly one of the old M16's usually carried by the R &D Support teams. Like the ones SG11 had. Who the fuck else could it be? The Unas? Sure.   
  
How many guns and how many clips his opponent had at his disposal was an unknown Jack didn't want to think about. Didn't matter anyway. He'd need to wrap this baby up right now in any case, because Teal'c needed attention and who the fuck knew where Daniel was and he'd better not be at the other end of this scope... and, godammit, Jack didn't have time for this full-of-doubt shit. It wasn't possible and that was the end of it. He brought the weapon up higher for as accurate a bead as possible on the repeated dim flashes, took a deep calming breath, and gently, almost lovingly, squeezed the trigger. A short, concentrated burst. He knew the outcome even as the rounds left the barrel. Take that, you son of a bitch. Jack smiled grimly when the attacking volleys stopped as abruptly as a light would go out if he'd flicked its switch. Caution was the order of the day, however, and he waited for a slow ten count before moving out, keeping close to the treeline, circling around to where he knew his aim had been true.   
  
Damned if that spot wasn't the very same one in which he'd found evidence of someone having passed through into the woods. He stepped past the very same bushes he'd been examining not long before, weapon at the ready, and crouched down next to the figure laying there. It was a grisly sight. The P90 fired 5.7mm rounds at over 2300 feet per second, and it looked like pretty much the entire burst he'd fired had hit the target more or less, well, right face on. Ugh. Specific identification was dodgy at best, but the uniform was SGC and the shoulder patch said SG11. That was enough for now. His knees buckled slightly under the weight of his relief, his mind offering up a thank you prayer that it wasn't Daniel, even though he'd known it couldn't have been. Jack scrubbed a tired and slightly shaky hand across his face as he surveyed the damage. No matter what the snake in charge had done, including the attack on Teal'c and Daniel, whichever member of SG11 this had been before the parasite had taken him hadn't deserved this.   
  
No matter what had been done. What had been... Jack reached out and fingered the weapons clumsily strapped to the net vest on the body. One of the automatic SMG's SG11 had been armed with, and not one but two P90's. Jack suddenly straightened up, alarmed. Two. Two P90's. He jabbed at his comm, calling to Carter before he'd fully depressed the switch. She responded immediately, and even though he'd well known the second weapon could never have been hers, he felt something loosen inside him at the sound of her voice. He poked at the various compartments in the vest as he spoke to her, noting it contained three - geez, count 'em, three - radios. He told her about Teal'c, asking her to divert SG3 to his location to help with evacuating their friend, and asked his question. After a brief pause she clicked back on and advised that Griff's weapon had not been taken from him, but had been dropped close by as he'd crawled through the woods too injured to continue to hang on to it. He acknowledged her absently, worry about the origin of the two P90's eating at him, and then was snapped back as she did the very bad thing.   
  
She asked about Daniel.   
  
Shit. Daniel. Where the hell are you?  
  
Jack gave her a curt "whereabouts unknown at this time," and signed off. He had to get back to Teal'c, and he had another equally important task to perform. His guts curdling as he gazed around the too quiet clearing, he reluctantly reminded himself he'd only found Teal'c by accident, and the brush was pretty thick in spots amongst the trees... so Daniel could be in any one of dozens of places. He didn't have much time, but he might not need much if he went about this sensibly. He'd use Teal'c's location as a starting point, and work his way outward.   
  
Ah, God. Damn you, Daniel. How dare you do this? How dare this happen? His jaw clenched so tightly it hurt, and with his mind wandering to places he really didn't want to visit he found himself several giant steps away from the corpse before he remembered there was something he needed to do there. He lurched back to it, grimacing as he shoved his hand down the front of the jacket and groped for the dogtags. They were slick with blood, and it took him a moment to get them off the body.   
  
The grey sky suddenly opened up above him, pelting him with a torrent of rain. He jammed the dogtags into one of his vest pockets and didn't look back as he left the remains of yet another disaster behind.

 

* * *

  
  
Water? Was that...? Yes. He was hearing running water. And it felt like... pressure. Something pressing... a tenseness over his bladder? Yes. Damn. He knew he had to wake up, and right away; dreaming of running water was never good. Better get up and go to the bathroom before he wet his bed like a three year old.   
  
Groggily, Daniel tightened the muscles of his lower abdomen and pelvis to hold it in as he shifted his weight in the bed, and immediately came to full alertness as every part of his body screamed at him that not only was this no posturpedic mattress he was laying on, but that a good deal of him was already soaking wet and it had nothing to do with bodily elimination needs. A split second later full memory of his situation hit home, and in a panic he surged forward to sit upright.   
  
A swish of wet leaves across his face as he sat up scared the crap out of him, and he involuntarily jerked to one side. An instinctive attempt to place his hands out to either side of him to regain his balance only made matters worse as his bound arms refused to go where he needed them to. With a yelp, he pitched over sideways, ending up with his sore hip painfully mushed between a large protruding root and the base of a tree into which he'd just planted his face. Acutely aware of every betraying noise he was making, Daniel rolled, got his hands underneath him, and pushed himself back upright. He had a quick look around, but couldn't see the staff weapon anywhere within reach. He wanted to search for it, to scramble madly around in the dirt and leaves until he could wrap his hands around its reassuring shaft, but every cell in his body screamed of the danger in that, of the need to be quiet and remain undiscovered.  
  
Ignoring the increasingly evident painful results of his earlier run, he sat still, his eyes darting from side to side repeatedly, and listened carefully for any sounds other than the splatter of rain against foliage, the gurgle of running water coming from somewhere behind him, and the soft creak and groan of the forest. There was nothing. No crashing, no shrieking, no shooting... just relative silence, and the longer he sat there, muscles protesting the stress in his body, the more frightened Daniel became that any second there'd be a triumphant howl of discovery from whatever direction he wasn't looking. His breath came in short gasps, his heart pounded as if it wanted to knock his ribcage aside and escape his chest, and his neck and shoulders felt frozen with tension.   
  
He had a vague memory of passing out, and then coming to thinking but not at all certain he'd just heard the crash of brush somewhere nearby. His fuzzy memory clarified further, and he recalled being unable to locate the staff without making his position known. Of quietly laying still in a state of intolerable fear and exhaustion, not quite alert and sane enough to be able to tell if the indiscriminate sounds were coming closer or getting farther away. Damn it. He must have passed out again, or maybe even fallen asleep? He'd been stupid, so weak, and now because of that here he was an unarmed sitting duck, no doubt just one noise away from discovery.  
  
How much time had passed? Maybe, just maybe - Daniel held his breath, listening intently, but only heard the natural sounds of the forest in the falling rain. He gradually relaxed slightly, just enough to shift a part of his awareness to his own state. He was hurting in more places he'd even known he possessed, and felt ill. Vaguely bilious, plus thick and sloggy all over with an annoying, unpleasant buzz to his limbs and head. Keeping part of his attention on his surroundings, Daniel tentatively tested out his limbs. He grimaced as he felt a grating sensation in his knee as he flexed it, and outright groaned at the pain in his hip when he slowly rose to his feet and tested out weight-bearing on that leg. He took a step forward, and lurched to one side to thrust his hands out toward the nearest tree to try to support himself as a sharp pain lanced through his hip and down the back of his leg.  
  
Leaning against the rough bark, Daniel stretched his leg out, gingerly placed his foot flat on the ground, and then tried a few half-hearted partial deep knee bends. Both the knee and hip hurt like hell, much worse than before. He hoped it was simply a result of stiffening up after extreme exertion, followed by inactivity - he couldn't believe it; he'd fucking fell _asleep_ for God's sake! - but wasn't going to hold his breath on that one. Regardless, he had to get moving. It was pretty clear by now whoever had been trying to kill him was no longer in the area, and if he wasn't here bothering Daniel, then Daniel had to assume Teal'c could be in danger.   
  
Growing awareness of the passage of time increased his concern for Teal'c, and set off renewed tension in his gut. He needed to get back there as quickly as possible. A reprise of his previous run through the woods was clearly a physical impossibility, but he'd have to do the best he could. Daniel pushed himself away from the tree and very nearly stepped out, before he remembered the missing staff weapon. Wouldn't that have been special, blundering through the woods to encounter some crazed assassin only to remember far too late that he was missing a vital piece of equipment. Very good, Daniel. Jesus.   
  
Shaking his head over his muddled thinking, Daniel started a visual search for the staff. He saw it after a few minutes of squinting into the bushes around the trees, laying almost entirely hidden amid low brush a good distance beyond where he had collapsed in between the two trees. It must have literally flown out of his hands when he'd fallen. He tried to step his way cautiously through the root system toward it, but he was hard pressed to go even the eight feet over to where the staff lay without reaching and grabbing for support at everything within reach of his bound hands. At this rate, how the hell was he going to get back to Teal'c before the turn of the century, never mind before some crazy man did? If he hadn't already, that is. Oh, please, no.  
  
Shoving aside thoughts of failure and the accompanying twist in his gut, Daniel reached down and snagged the staff. He turned around to go back the way he'd come, and telling himself he could do this, that it'd be fine, he held it firmly in front of him in his two-handed grip and tried to use it as a walking stick. Unsuccessfully. The only thing he achieved was to displace his centre of gravity far enough forward that he was in danger of toppling over with every step. Daniel cursed under his breath as rising frustration and anger combined with his worry for Teal'c. Breathing in short, shaky gusts, his arms starting to shake with stress, he gave it up and angled the staff, stepping forward without its support, but before he'd even made it back to the gully between the trees he tripped over the end of his leash. Before he could catch himself, he was flat on his face on the ground, elbows scraped, his arms thrust forward, the staff weapon laying half underneath him. Argh. Demoralized and sore beyond belief, he turned his head and lay his cheek on the soft, wet moss underneath him and just lay there in brief surrender. Closing his eyes, a quick flash of memory - a mental image of half-laying, half-sitting in exhaustion at the base of another tree, at another time - momentarily confused him. Where was he? What was he meant to be doing?  
  
Teal'c! Yes, right. He was meant to be protecting Teal'c... but he was doing one hell of a poor job of it. Damn it, he really had to get a grip here, stop being such a wuss. He smiled faintly to himself as in his mind he heard Jack's 'dammit, Daniel,' heard Jack's voice urging him to damned well get up and get on with it. Physical stamina was hardly Daniel's weakest point, and he knew that to this point he'd put up with more than many people would have been able to... but with lives at stake, no matter how well he'd done or how much he'd had to cope with, no way would Jack allow Daniel to indulge. No way Jack himself would be just laying here like this, wasting time. Right? So if Jack could do it, he could too. Right? He was every bit as capable of pulling this off as Jack. Right?  
  
Ohh, no, actually... not necessarily right. A fleeting, sour smile passed across Daniel's lips again at the knowledge that he and Jack were different, and no matter how much Jack swore at him there were some expectations he was bound not to be able to meet. But in this particular instance nothing less than full compliance was acceptable, even to Daniel. He had to get moving, no matter how bad off he felt. With renewed determination, purposefully maintaining Jack's voice in his head egging him on, Daniel started to clamber to his feet. He only made it part way before he was jerked back down as his arms refused to come up with him. What the hell...?  
  
The rope around his wrists was snagged on something. Daniel pulled his arms upward what little he could, peering underneath, and found that a loop of rope from the underside of the knot had caught on a sharply broken-off, protruding branch of a tree limb mostly buried in the ground. Was that the bottom part of the loop which Teal'c had pulled downward in the cave? If so, struggling to release it by pulling upward could result in the bundle of knots between his wrists tightening. They were quite sore enough as it was, thank you very much. Daniel relaxed his arms, leaned forward, and carefully slid the snagged rope off the raggedly pointed stub. Thankfully, it came away without too much trouble, and he was free.   
  
He was... free.   
  
Free? Daniel stared at his bound wrists. At the tightly braided leather rope. Free. An instant replay of his own panicked thoughts sounded in his mind. _'I'd know if I was a host. Anything else was inconceivable, impossible. Wasn't it?'_   
  
Daniel shuddered, aware of little else other than the recurrence of unpleasant images and increasingly loud and fearful words in his head. _'I'm not inhabited by a Goa'uld. I'm not. It was impossible.'_ Oh, God.   
  
_'...the sounds and smell of gunfire, the image of Loder being catapulted across the clearing as a snarling mass clubbed the man aside...'_   
  
_'This couldn't be happening. Couldn't be. But it was. Three men I'd worked side by side with for the last ten days were dead, and now my own team thought...'_  
  
 _'Not just the three lost here. How many Goa'ulded, how many dead?'_  
  
 _"Listen to me, Daniel. Will you hear me? There is danger here."_  
  
 _"Listen to me, Daniel..."_  
  
What? Teal'c?   
  
_"Will you hear me? There is danger here."_  
  
Teal'c? Teal'c!  
  
Daniel's heart leapt into his throat and he scrambled to grab the staff weapon. What was wrong with him? He had to go! Teal'c. There was danger - Teal'c was hurt and Daniel had left him all alone. He had to hurry. Get back there. Awkwardly, he scooped up the staff and struggled to his feet. He stepped on the trailing rope as he did so, and even as unnerved as he was, some remnant of sanity chided him for his attempt to ignore the obvious. He was going to be less than helpful in his current state. He could barely walk unassisted never mind hot-foot it to anywhere, and once he got wherever there was he'd be no better able to handle an emergency than he had been before.   
  
He had to get the rope off.   
  
It was the only answer. With his hands free not only could the staff be used for support, but he'd be much more efficient should he need to fire it. Except that - damn it. He was fooling himself. There was no time to fuss with the rope now. It'd take forever to do that, and he'd already wasted God only knew how much time. But, with it on, he couldn't even... he couldn't... he'd had to _run away_ , for Christ's sake! His only option had been to turn tail and run like hell because he couldn't properly... he hadn't been able to... but he had to get back; Teal'c was alone and that monster knew -  
  
"Agh, God! Jack!" Daniel involuntarily screamed out loud in confusion and fear. He waved the staff in a fit of adrenaline-hyped frustration, railing up at the heavens through the green canopy overhead. "Fuck! It's all fucked up, Jack! Tell me what to do!"   
  
The burst of emotional energy fled immediately after the outburst and he slumped to his knees, knowing full well no one was going to magically appear and take the responsibility away from him. He was on his own. He was on his own, and he had to get the rope off. He was useless with it still on. He'd made a huge mistake in being so prissy about it with Jack before. Now, he only hoped Teal'c hadn't already paid with his life for that bit of stubborn stupidity.  
  
So. Get the damned rope off. He sniggered softly to himself. Oh, sure. Right. No doubt it had been less of a trauma for Tycho Brahe to have had his nose cut off than it would be for Daniel to try to accomplish this. He stared blankly at the ground in front of him, feeling worse than inadequate, his mind only slowly registering what was right in front of his own nose. The sharp stub of wood he'd been caught up on and the thick limb it was attached to, with its numerous broken branches poking their way erratically up from the mulch of the forest floor. Of course. Daniel quickly held his hands up so he could get a look at the underside of the mass of rope between his wrists. He could see the slightly lax portion which had become snagged, and also saw the ends of the woven strips which made up the rope and marked the presence of the near end of the rope as laying somewhere in the mess of knots. He was pretty sure the loosened loop was the segment Teal'c had pulled down on, so theoretically if he pulled from below it'd tighten the whole thing. So he had to... okay. There? If he worked at that portion right there, then maybe it'd pull that loose loop in and up, which would what? Tug on that portion under there. Right?  
  
Yes, that looked right. With any luck that would bring the long leash end right on up through the knot. Step one in getting the thing off. He'd have to try it, and if it worked then figure out where to go, what part to try to loosen off, from there. Okay. Okay! There you go, Daniel. Work it through; use those Piled-Higher-and-Deeper underachieving brain cells and solve this dilemma. Taking a calming breath, relieved to be doing something more productive than panicking, Daniel sat back on his haunches and scanned the limb for a broken branch of the right size which came off in the right direction. The first one he found was too weak, breaking off almost immediately after he'd pried it up into the right spot in the knot. Which was okay, because he'd had to contort himself too much to get it aimed up into the top of the bundle of leather properly, and his arms and shoulders had protested to the point he'd been hard pressed to hold the position even as long as he had. He'd never have been able to wiggle and waggle it under just right to actually accomplish much.  
  
Trying out several more candidates met with equally unproductive results, and just as he was about to lapse into despair again, there it was. Sticking up from the mangled end of the limb was a thin, jaggedly curved shoot of wood, tapering off to a sharp point aimed at a slightly downward angle. Daniel scrambled toward that end of the limb, climbed over it to the other side opposite his new prybar, and brought his arms up, around, and over to the other side of the limb in front of him. It was perfect. It was better than perfect. A bit of hokey-pokey brought the pointed end into the knot, and some gentle shimmying ensured it'd stay there while he worked at loosening and pulling up on the loop.   
  
Yes! The D-ring reappeared on the top of the bundle of knotted leather, getting floppy as it enlarged. He worked it up and out as much as he could. Satisfied, Daniel abandoned the fallen limb in favour of finding something really strong. He needed leverage. He needed... _that._ That tree branch right over there. It came off the big tree at a level over the ground somewhat above his full height, sticking out proudly despite being broken off within three feet or so of its origin at the tree trunk. He approached the tree, and noticed the condition of the bark on both the tree and the branch. Roughened, damaged. Daniel shuddered as he saw the deep claw marks there, realising the branch had been broken off by something quite large and powerful. Something that could climb trees. He fervently hoped it had been just an Unas. Do Unas climb trees?  
  
Never mind. Just one more reason to get this done. Get on with it. Reaching overhead, he found the height just about right, and with some difficulty carefully guided the slack loop over the branch end and along it toward the tree trunk. He had to stand on the tips of his toes at one point where the short branch took a temporary upward turn, and he got stuck several times on the rough surface before he managed to get it looped along over a thick enough portion that the branch was less likely to break off once he started hauling on it. He dropped his weight, pulling downward. The loop slowly enlarged slightly as he carefully applied more downward pressure, and Daniel almost sobbed as he saw the stubby trailers sticking out from the jumble between his wrists move upward into the knot at the same rate. It wasn't what he had expected, but at least something was happening.   
  
Not only was something happening, but it looked like he might have finally been granted a bit of luck. As he realised it was not the long trailing leash but the short end of the rope moving, it suddenly occurred to him maybe the convoluted-looking knot wasn't really a knot per se, but in fact just might be a series of haphazard loops of the rope around a central section between his wrists, with the short end shoved into and through the whole thing... possibly in one go. Oh, please let it have been pushed through in one go! He felt a strange mix of satisfaction and vague nausea as he realised that if this was the case, his early attempts to pull his hands free was probably what had kept him trapped there in an ever tightening grip around his wrists, which meant that now the whole thing might just unravel once he'd pulled the line through a couple of times. Jesus. If so, that meant he probably could have done this at any point. Oh, Teal'c.  
  
Daniel clenched his teeth over the time he'd wasted vacillating over what to do, and pulled downward sharply, lifting his feet right off the ground, allowing his entire body weight to yank on the loop. There was a slip-slide, a momentary catch, and then all at once the short trailers sticking out from the knot were whipped up through into the jumble and in short order Daniel found himself landing hard onto his butt on the ground. He came close to greying out for a second as his hip screeched at him, then shook it off, and stared stupidly down at his bindings not really clear for a moment on what he was seeing. Daniel blinked purposefully, hesitant to believe it really could be that easy. The D-ring loop was gone, the short end now longer and flapping about, and while the mess stayed a congealed jumble of coiled loops it had loosened considerably. He quickly picked at the coils he could reach and then tentatively pulled his hands apart, watching dumbfounded as the whole thing suddenly unwound.   
  
Ohmigawd. He did it. He was free. Well... either he was, or his sneaky, hiding, yellow-bellied Goa'uld. No. He didn't have a Goa'uld. But if he did, it'd be yellow-bellied for sure because when it came right down to it, they all were. He didn't have a Goa'uld, but he did have a responsibility he desperately hoped he hadn't failed to meet, though. Daniel painfully got to his feet, untangled himself from the rope, secured it into a coil, and ducked his head and arm through it to sling it over his shoulder and across his chest. He studied his watch - now that he had access to it - and was disappointed to find it was fatally damaged, the face glass cracked and the LED display dark. Ah well. He hobbled over to pick up the staff weapon laying in the low brush, surveying where he was and where he'd come from.   
  
Oh, shit. His heart hammered in his chest, a sudden spike of fear sending his body into overdrive. Where had he come from? He swiveled his head wildly. Which way - There? Yes. Oh, thank you God! He remembered that small hump over there, beyond the trees he'd, crap, fallen and _fallen asleep_ between. He knew that some distance beyond it there was a huge waist-high bush full of menacing thorns he'd only just avoided crashing right through the centre of during his run.  
  
He was okay. He knew how to get back to Teal'c. He wasn't lost. Everything was going to be okay now.

 

* * *

 

Whoa there, Nelly. Jack stopped abruptly and frowned as Teal'c wavered precariously and had to spread his legs in a wide stance on the muddy trail to regain his balance. He reached out to offer a steadying hand, but it was waved away. Oh, this was ridiculous. It was clear Teal'c was struggling, but Teal'c was also quite insistent, and an insistent Teal'c was not to be trifled with. Not under any circumstances. But, well, yeah, this was pretty ridiculous.

  
"You sure you can make the rest of this?" Teal'c glared at him, and admittedly somewhat fazed by the cold anger in Teal'c's eyes Jack half-heartedly waved an arm toward a large fallen log on the side of the pathway. "We should stop for a rest. I think y... uh, I mean, I think I really need to stop for a rest."  
  
"You do not." Not just cold, but ice.  
  
Shit. "Okay, right, yeah. I do not." Jack took a deep breath. "Teal'c, give yourself a break here. You've been shot. And you're concussed." He hurried on as impatience flared on Teal'c's face. "Okay, look, here's the deal. I think the world of Junior, really, you know I do, but hey, did you ever think that maybe he needs help now and again with doing his job... maybe right about now, just as much as you do, right now?"  
  
Some indefinable but obviously negative emotion flickered across Teal'c's face, then his features re-schooled into hardened implacability. He turned away from Jack and set off unsteadily down the trail. Jack sighed, and checked his watch. They'd been on the move for close to an hour, and at this snail's pace, provided Teal'c could maintain it, they'd probably make Carter's position in just under an hour more. SG3, their destination altered back to the original at Teal'c's insistence, would likely be along at about the same time. He didn't disagree with Teal'c that as far as time and manpower efficiency was concerned this was the best option, but he wished it wasn't so hard on his friend. That Teal'c wasn't so hard on himself.  
  
Jack hadn't found Daniel lying dead in the bushes as he'd fully expected. He had found Teal'c's pack, though, and had done what he could to clean and bandage the shoulder and head wounds. Subsequently, forty-five minutes into his thorough search for any clues as to what might have happened to Daniel, Jack had emerged from a telling exploration of the woods near where he'd dealt with their attacker, his mind and soul aching in time with one another, to find himself under observation. Teal'c stood silently watching him from across the clearing, leaning against the tree Jack had found him under. It had taken all of two minutes for Teal'c to confirm the grim thoughts that had started eating a hole right through Jack from the moment he'd first found Teal'c, with the blood from his wounds all but dried on his clothing and body.   
  
Teal'c'd had no idea what hit him. One moment Teal'c had been talking to Daniel, readying them to head out, and in his next moment of awareness he had found himself on the ground pretty much out in the open, hurting beyond belief, and actually physically attacking Daniel in his confusion. Teal'c vaguely remembered Daniel telling him about an Ash'rak assailant, but couldn't recall much more than that. Culpability and an inexplicable sense of inadequacy had cut Jack to the bone when he'd figured out Daniel had not only temporarily fended off attacks from both Teal'c and a hostile armed with an M16 and two P90's, but even as disadvantaged as he was had managed to move Teal'c into deep cover. And it didn't take much imagination to figure out what Daniel had done next, because he simply wasn't anywhere to be found around here and the woods had told their tale.  
  
Jack had gone as far as fast as he could, but he'd lost the trail he'd chosen to follow only a little ways in. He really couldn't be sure he was following the right one, so he'd tried again with another, but had no better luck. Hell, the trails he'd been able to find could have been caused by anyone or anything... the Goa'uld, Daniel, an Unas, one or more of those cat-things. It hadn't taken long for him to realise it was a hopeless task for one person to carry out. It had taken considerably longer to give up on it, though.   
  
Jack watched Teal'c's back as Teal'c stoically stumbled along ahead of him. He understood perfectly Teal'c's anger with him. Daniel had saved Teal'c's life back there, no doubt about that. It had to have been Daniel firing the staff all along, and now he was missing. Missing, if he was still alive - which Jack had grave doubts about. No. Don't think like that. But if he had somehow managed to evade the Goa'uld who'd come back to the clearing, the bottom line was that unless something gave and gave fast Daniel was probably on borrowed time, running around somewhere on planet full of Unas, lion-tiger-bear-things, and snakeheads. Alone. Without any food or water, no radio, and his hands still bound. Maybe injured, definitely exhausted, and probably not exactly firing on all cylinders. The part about no water was a sizeable concern given their experience at the bivouac site, but surely Daniel would know better than to take another swim in the local spa. Right? Of course, it still could be that even though Daniel didn't know it he may not exactly be himself, in which case it wouldn't matter much if he did go down to the water, would it?   
  
Shit! Stop that. Jack irritably dismissed those doubts as a waste of mental energy, berating himself over his lack of self-control, over his inability to also wave away the frustration of knowing that with SG3 still a fair distance out, there was no way he could launch a search for Daniel without leaving Teal'c and Griff unsupported. Carter alone wouldn't be enough. So no search, not now, and probably not for at least several hours to come. He looked up at the darkening sky, still full of clouds laden with moisture despite the heavy rain, thankfully now stopping, which had fallen for over an hour and a half. He and Teal'c were soaked through. God damn this fucking planet.  
  
As they walked, Jack kept one eye solicitously on Teal'c and the other on high alert for any dangers. Teal'c wasn't talking to him - which was driving him thoroughly nuts - no matter what tactic he tried to get the man to give up the goods, and trying to focus his mind was much more difficult than his eyeballs. As they went along his thoughts drifted in a dismally undisciplined fashion not at all common nor acceptable for him. He found himself mired in a cycle of self-chastisement, compensatory claims of plausible deniability, renewed recrimination, and continued uncertainty. Which was all Rothman's fault, of course. Or... not. Dammit.   
  
He stopped twice to share his water with Teal'c, and twice more to radio to Carter as to Griff's condition and the progress of SG3 - which inefficiency had the benefit of giving an obviously struggling Teal'c twice the number of breathers - and as they got closer he mulled over what to do once they arrived at Carter's position. Obviously they weren't going to make it back to the Stargate by nightfall. There was time left in the day though, and even with the two injured men to assist there was still a pretty good chance they could make it back to the dig site. Camp out there overnight, where they could fire up the heaters, tuck in their wounded, eat out of tins instead of cryogenically sealed foil packets, and take their boots off.  
  
At least, the rest of them could. Carter and three of SG3 could handle traveling with Teal'c and Griff. He'd take the other member of SG3, and they'd head back to the clearing to start a search for Daniel. Which meant Jack was doomed to spend another uncomfortable night out in the open at Club Hellhole, where for rock bottom rates one minute lasts forever and there's a body under every tree. Speaking of which... Jack reached out and touched Teal'c lightly on the arm, halting him at his side. He thumbed his radio, and warned Carter that the crashing through the bushes she was about to hear was just them, so she ought to do her best not to shoot them. Please.  
  
Teal'c didn't move forward with him when he set out again, though. He just stood there on the pathway, wobbling slightly, the pain and fatigue on his face and in his body language giving way to evident stubborn irritation as Jack first asked him to join him, then tried to wave him forward, then cajoled, and finally resorted to carefully yanking on his vest to try to get him moving again. Teal'c simply turned away from him to stare back up the pathway in the direction they had come from, though.  
  
Jack gave up, flapping his arms at his sides in his own frustration. "What? What do you want from me, Teal'c?" His realised his voice was too loud, too peevish, and he forced himself to tone it down. "I don't like it either, but hell, I'm doing the best I can here, buddy. We all are. It's no one's fault." God, if only he really believed his own words. Sometimes being him really sucked. He was both confused and surprised when Teal'c finally spoke, his voice a low rumble that had Jack leaning forward in an attempt to hear clearly. "I have no doubt you have done what you judge to be best. In that, you are blameless. However, there is fault to be had, O'Neill."  
  
Huh? Oh, jumping jiminy. So did that mean it wasn't him that Teal'c was so pissed with after all? Jack dragged a hand through his hair and sighed. "You did your best too, Teal'c. You were ambushed. Shot. Whacked over. Down for the count. It isn't your fault, either."  
  
Teal'c turned, stared at Jack for a heartbeat, and abruptly moved off into the woods in the direction Jack had tried to drag him. As he stepped into the trees he threw a response over his shoulder that left Jack standing in stunned silence. "I did not intend to implicate myself, O'Neill. It is, in fact, the fault of the symbiote inside Robert Rothman."  
  
What, so he was right? It was Rothman's fault? No, of course not. Shaking his head in a vain attempt to rid himself of his confusion, Jack hurried after Teal'c. Wouldn't do to end up with two men lost in the woods. As it turned out, he needn't have worried on that score. Less than five minutes in Carter edged out from behind a clump of trees, lowering her weapon and quickly moving to Teal'c's side, all sorts of compassionately sympathetic noises tumbling over Teal'c like water over pebbles in a stream. She fussed briefly, then went all soldierly again. The worry in her eyes at the sight of only the two of them didn't go away, though.  
  
"Colonel. SG3 is homed in on channel one, and estimate they are about fifteen to twenty minutes out from our location. They said they ran into a bit of a delay, unavoidable, but they're coming through the woods to cut off the angle and make up some time, Sir." She cast a quick glance over her shoulder. "With some pain control Captain Griff seems to be doing better. He definitely won't be ambulatory, though."  
  
Right. Well, he'd known that would be the case. "Okay. No problem. We can stretcher him." Carter was walking backward, and Jack ushered Teal'c along in her wake.  
  
"Well, actually, Sir, the rescue stretcher is with Captain Pierce's gear, which is back at the bivouac. I guess we had forgotten that this morning when we continued on to find Daniel." She was practically bouncing. "But I got on it, Sir. It's all taken care of."  
  
The flash of totally irrational fear that she might have gone back to the water - he knew she'd never do that, especially with a man down relying on her - turned into a flush of mild amusement as she backed off to one side and proudly waved an arm toward the fruits of her labour. She'd been busy, all right. Then Jack barely smothered an outright laugh as Griff gave them a feeble wave from where he lay on the ground beside the impressively constructed wood travois, and gestured with his thumb to it and then toward Carter while pulling an exaggeratedly fearful face. Oh, yeah, Jack could empathise with him on that, all right. Carter intent on constructing the eighth wonder of the world. Must have been terrifying.  
  
Jack unslung Teal'c's pack from over his arm, shucked off his own, and went over to crouch down next to Griff. He was aware of Carter settling Teal'c down nearby and checking his wounds, but focused all of his attention on the SG2 captain. "So. Want to tell us what happened? Where's Pierce?"   
  
Griff's face went all but blank, then he looked slightly panicked. Carter reached out and placed a reassuring hand on the man's arm. "He doesn't really know where Captain Pierce is, Sir. All he knows is that they were getting ready to transport the bodies, thinking they'd try to meet Coburn part way, and suddenly there was shooting."  
  
Griff nodded. His voice was hoarse when he spoke, his expression haunted. "We took cover behind the big log. I saw movement in the woods, and returned fire. They ran, and I followed." He tried to shrug and paled, hissing with pain at the movement. "I messed up, Sir. I'm sorry. Zigged when I should have zagged. Got myself shot."  
  
Jack nodded his acknowledgement that the captain had done his best. "Did you see who it was?" Griff's face twisted with distress, and Jack could see the answer was a clear yes even though the man was having trouble spitting it out.  
  
Carter came to his rescue, softly advising, "It was Pankratz, Sir. SG11." She squeezed Griff's arm slightly in support. "Captain Griff was Captain Pankratz's best man at his wedding last month, Colonel. You remember."  
  
Ah, shit. Yeah, he did remember. He also remembered Daniel arguing unsuccessfully with Hawkins three weeks ago, trying to have Pankratz excused from the dig as he'd only been married a week. Jack had pulled Daniel aside and told him in no uncertain terms to stop meddling with the composition of another man's team. As he recalled, in his pique over Daniel stepping all over military protocol he'd also had some harsh and completely out of line things to say about the wisdom of offworld teams' members maintaining long term romantic relationships in the first place. Complete with a not so facetious, basically nasty, compliment on Daniel's commendably successful failures in that regard. He'd regretted it even as it had come out of his mouth, even more so as all colour had drained from Daniel's face, but he had never apologised.   
  
God. He'd never apologised.  
  
Teal'c's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Including Daniel Jackson and Robert Rothman as part of the research site team, that leaves the fate of one member as yet unconfirmed. What was the condition of Captain Pierce when you left him?"  
  
What? Oh. All right. Here he was reminiscing, while the guy with the head injury was doing all the thinking. Okay, so... Daniel and Rothman, Loder, Hawkins, Pankratz... uhhh...  
  
"He was all right. Not hit. I have no idea why he didn't come after me when I didn't get back there."  
  
Shit. Jack laid his fingers on the fabric of his vest, over the dogtags in his pocket. Carter was counting off. "Okay, so we have a total of seven members including Daniel and Robert. Loder was killed on site, Hawkins we know about, Pankratz is out there somewhere, and one member managed to get past Coburn and Heath and through the Stargate."  
  
"Hawkins stated Sanchez was dead, however we should not rely on that information as accurate."  
  
Jack glanced at Teal'c. "Yeah. Oh, yeah. You betcha." The tags were burning a hole in his pocket. "That means the one who made it through to the SGC was either Collier, actually the snake inside Collier, or it was Sanchez. Maybe."  
  
"And we have no idea what happened to Pierce," Carter added. "So aside from Daniel being missing, that makes three we haven't pinned down yet. Pierce, Pankratz, and Sanchez."  
  
Pinned down. What a lovely euphemism. Jack hated this place with a passion. He'd blown away one of the three, but that left two unknowns; potentially two guys running around with snakes in their heads. And Daniel. Had he mentioned that he really hated this planet? No time like the present. "Dammit. I hate this place." Carter gave him a 'duh' kind of look, and he reached into his pocket to pull out the tags. Process of elimination.  
  
Carter's radio blared to life, SG3-niner's voice announcing their imminent arrival. And oh crap, asking for them to break out whatever medical supplies they had on hand. Carter dove for the packs, her eyes wide with surprise and concern. Jack rose to his feet and turned toward the sounds now coming from somewhere off to his left. "I gather they didn't mention this little gem when they called in earlier, Major?"   
  
She shook her head, pulling the medkits out of the three packs they had with them. "Just that there had been a delay, Sir."   
  
The noises got louder, and a moment later the four man SG3 team burst through a thicket into Griff and Carter's home away from home. Oh no, no, Godammit all... make that a two and two-halves man team. Two of SG3 were hanging off the other two members, both still weight-bearing and independent to varying degrees, but also both undeniably not fit for anything other than a return home. The thigh of one of the men was deeply gouged, unmistakable claw marks continuing on down the leg, the fabric shredded from upper thigh to mid-calf. The other injured man was nursing a torn-up shoulder and a useless arm and hand.   
  
Certainly, SG3 as a team was not fit for what Jack had required of them. If he weren't a full bird colonel of such great dignity and vast accomplishments, Jack would have thrown a hairy hissy fit right there and then. So went the best laid plans of mice and men and full bird colonels.   
  
His heart sank like a stone. Sorry, Daniel. God. So sorry.

 

* * *

  
  
Daniel was finally ready to openly admit it now. He was irretrievably lost.  
  
It was much easier going here in this totally unfamiliar part of the forest, the trees spaced much farther apart, the ground in between them predominantly grassy. It was relatively flat, and free of the annoying tangled undergrowth which he'd been limping and tripping through for... for how long? For way, way too long. For, forever.   
  
He stopped, rubbing at eyes that intermittently saw doubles of everything, then dragged his hand across his face. Not to wipe off sweat, because there wasn't much of that. He was thirsty as hell, and knew he was becoming increasingly dehydrated. He was also beyond exhausted now, both physically and mentally. He'd found a rhythm with the staff and his complaining joints only with great difficulty, and only to lose it more frequently than was tolerable. He'd picked himself up off the ground more times than he could count, steeled himself against the throbs and stabs of discomfort, forcing himself to move on. He had fought against his rising fear - and then against the certain intolerable knowledge - that he was going the wrong way, had struggled to keep his composure as he'd switch-backed along trying to locate evidence of the pursuit which had brought him into the woods, or for that matter anything which seemed even remotely familiar. His knee throbbed mercilessly, but as he'd gone along his hip had loosened up, so at least he was still on his feet. Quite a feat, that, still being on his feet. He snickered. Maybe he should throw a celebratory fete.   
  
_Moron_ , his mind taunted him. _You blew it, and all you can think to do is play juvenile word games?_ Oh, sure. Right, go ahead. Kick him when he was down. He'd done his best. He couldn't do any more than that. _You got yourself fucking lost,_ the inner voice chided, _and you think you've done the best you could? So, this is your best? What a feeb._   
  
Shut up. Shutup shutup shutup.   
  
Daniel sagged against his grip on the staff weapon, just about at the limits of his endurance. It wasn't just physical, either. He knew he was pretty close to falling apart here; hell, he was hearing a snide voice in his head and he was actually willingly answering it. Even though in his more lucid moments he knew that phenomenon was probably related to exhaustion and dehydration, he'd had a pretty-damned-bad few moments a bit ago when it had occurred to him maybe it wasn't actually his own inner voice he was conversing with. One mega hell of a bad time of it, just then. But he was better now. All better now. _All_... his hand was slipping down the staff, and he couldn't seem to gather whatever was needed to tighten his grip... _better_... and, uh oh, his body seemed to be following it down... _now._   
  
Daniel hit the ground in a disorganised heap, a dry sob ripped from his throat as he landed with his knee twisted underneath him. As he felt the pain and weakness flow through him and bile rise up to burn the back of his throat, he silently crowed in triumph over the nagging voice in his head, thanking non-existent Gods for great favours not of their making. He was hurting, and sick, and undeniably steadily deteriorating. So, he was fine. He was better than fine. He was free.   
  
Damn. He was also scripted to do the Bra'tac Theatre _'I die free'_ finale if he didn't get up and do something about forcing a rewrite. But hell, just what does one do about being alone and sick and hurt and dehydrated and likely hunted and totally lost in the woods on an alien planet full of parasites, carnivores, and a heavily armed apparent homicidal maniac? He'd dismissed the idea of firing the staff into the air as some sort of signal, because he couldn't be sure the right eyes would see it against the heavy grey cloud cover before the wrong ones might, and heck, it wasn't exactly a GPS, was it?   
  
Absently, he wondered how long it might be until dusk. Probably not as long as he might imagine, given that the days here were short. He was pretty sure he'd been wandering the woods for a hell of a long time, but the bitterly overcast sky was too opaque a dark grey for him to get any sort of fix on where the sun might be. So... what now? What would Jack do? Why, Jack would get right on up off the ground and soldier on, wouldn't he? Like the good soldier he was, right? _You're not a soldier; you're just a geek_ , the unwelcome voice pointed out, _and there's no such thing as geeking on, so you may as well just lay down and give up now._ Daniel grabbed the staff weapon with both hands and swung it upright, silently telling the voice to just fuck off and die as he laboriously pulled himself to his feet. No doubt Jack would be evaluating and reassessing, right? _'Yeah, Daniel. Exactly right. What do you have, geekboy, and what do you need?'_ , he'd say.   
  
Yes! Thanks, Jack. Okay, he could do that; it was as good a thing as any to occupy his mind as his body struggled on. Staff, good leg, bad leg. Struggling on. Staff, good leg, bad leg. What did he have? A staff weapon. A leather rope. Boots, pants, and a jacket. A utility belt, with one unfortunately empty water bottle securely and uselessly strapped in place, the belt equally as unfortunately bereft of knife and the nice sharp little archaeological tools he'd left lying on the ground at the dig site. Daniel tripped slightly over his own feet, growling under his breath as he struggled to remain upright and keep moving forward. He could do this. He would do this.  
  
In his pockets... what? Oh goody. He got to do a mental inventory. That should keep his mind off his stupid situation for uhmm, what? A good thirty seconds or so? A tape recorder securely wrapped in plastic, a previously soaked to a state of mush pocket-pack of kleenex, a disgustingly filthy bandana, an equally as previously soaked small notebook, a pencil... what else? Yes, a blister pack with one antihistamine tablet left in it, and he was pretty sure he still had Robert's mini bottle of glasses lens cleaner in his jacket pocket. Wonder if it would cause more harm than good if he drank it? Probably. He'd wait; save that experiment for later. What else did he have? A fierce headache, blurry vision, bruises on bruises, a buggered-up hip, and a knee that was singing what sounded more and more like a swan song. Hang on, though; he had level ground now, which he hadn't had before. So it wasn't all bad.  
  
What did he need? People. Friendly people. Rescue. Barring that, he needed water, and after that a discrete and defensible place to rest. Okay! All right, that was better. Thank you again, Jack. Now he had something to aim for, a new purpose to this torturous trek through the grass and trees, in replacement of the one he could not fulfill. He ruthlessly shoved the reminder of Teal'c to the back of his mind. He couldn't do anything about that now, and if he allowed himself to dwell on it he knew he'd fall apart all that much faster. He just had to believe that Jack and Sam had gone back and found Teal'c before the... oh hell, just how do you refer to a co-worker who's been possessed and turned into a murderous something-or-other? He needed to find water. Daniel stopped walking, amusing himself momentarily with the deprecatory thought that his rate of forward progress was pretty much unaffected by the act. He wrinkled his nose in consternation as he tried to figure out how to go about locating a tall, cool one. In short order, he dismissed the ideas of making a divining rod, following his nose, digging a well, or going online to mail-order a hydrometer, and was left with... nothing. He had no clue. He hadn't encountered any streams in the woods as he'd - Oh, crap! Shit! Shit, crap, shit, hell! Why didn't you tell me, Jack? What the fuck were you thinking? Damn it, Jack, what the hell is wrong with you?   
  
Nooo, oh nooo, he hadn't encountered any streams or creeks, had he? Except of course for that one way back there where he'd started out from. He'd heard it as he'd woken up, gurgling away somewhere behind him. Daniel thumped the end of the staff against the ground in frustration, the empty water bottle on his belt mocking him with its presence. _See? A feeb. A moron. Don't say you weren't told._ Oh, shit, it was back. Please, just shut up.   
  
Daniel scanned his surroundings. Behind him, in the direction he'd come from, the trees were large and closer together than they were where he stood, their entangled root systems making the ground almost chaotically irregular in spots. No wonder it had been so hard to make his way across to here. The woods had thinned out to where he was now, and further to his left there were even larger gaps between small stands of younger trees. He caught a glimpse of what looked like a bit of tousled meadowland beyond the slender trunks. _Go that way. Maybe there'll be a rabbit hole you can fall into._ Shut up.  
  
The larger trees behind him circled around to the right, forming a heavy treeline which visibly dipped and rose, a clue that the ground over there would be too uneven for him to travel in his condition. There was no point going back the way he'd come, so it'd be to the left or straight ahead. His vision blurred and filled with small floaters as he quickly turned his head to face forward, his peripheral vision going dark, and the ground ahead seemed to drop off into nothingness. There was a moment of vertigo, then it cleared somewhat. Daniel squeezed his eyes closed, raising his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. _Whoa, what a trip. Open your eyes, geek. Let's do that again._ Oh please, shut the hell up. He felt faintly nauseated, but forced himself to open his eyes and give it another try. This time he moved his head slowly, cautiously testing the waters. A bit dizzy, but manageable. The headache was flaring, though. He suspected that soon it would be bad enough to blind him even when his eyes could still see. Water. Had to find water.   
  
Squinting at the view in front of him, Daniel thought for a moment he had just been wrong. It looked like his eyes were giving out first after all. Then he realised it wasn't him. The ground beyond the small clumps of young trees a hundred or so feet ahead of him actually did seem to drop away into a black hole. He took a few steps forward, peering past the trees. Yes. It was an optical illusion of sorts. The ground sloped gently downward past the edge of the forest up ahead, gently dropping off into an area of relative darkness where the green of the grasses and low underbrush apparently gave way to... to...? Dare he hope? He shuffled forward some more, moving to his right as he did so in order to see better past a small stand of trees. It looked like maybe -  
  
His heart jumped. Was it? _No. It isn't. Go the other way. Stick to looking for bunny holes, Boy-o. Much safer that way._ He didn't even bother going to the trouble of telling the voice to shut up, because he knew what that was up ahead now and he really couldn't be bothered with cowardly second thoughts. He'd take his chances. Daniel planted the base of the staff weapon into the ground and pushed off, determined to reach the water's edge a couple of hundred feet or so ahead before what little remained of his endurance fled completely. He gamely picked up his pace, working just as hard to dismiss the aching heaviness of his limbs and pounding in his head as he was to move on. He lost his balance as the level ground increasingly gave way to the downslope through the remaining border of trees and low brush, and fell much of the way down the rest of the hill in a tumble of arms and legs, the staff flying from his grip to land farther along. He crawled over to it on all fours, his chest heaving, biting his lip and trying not to think about what that snap-crackle-pop in his knee might mean.   
  
Hauling himself to his feet was getting harder and harder. He'd need to be more careful, because he suspected the next time he went down he just might not be able to get up at all. He staggered on down the rest of the slope and onto the flat, and then he was there. Breaking out past the last of the trees and shrubs onto the edge of the expanse of dirt verging the gently flowing body of water. And oh God... was he where he thought he was? He laughed out loud - an unpleasant, dry, brittle sound that made his stomach curl in on itself - as he realised he must have U-Hauled his ass in one hell of an artful arc and bend in his dash and wanderings through the forest. What a sad joke that was. In all those hours upon hours, he'd covered practically no distance at all in endless miles and miles upon miles of travelling.   
  
_You don't want to be here, buddy._ Shut up. Yes he did. He needed water. Daniel moved forward, crossing the wide dirt bank. Shit! He came very close to yelling out loud as he realised he wouldn't be able to get to the water. The embankment he was standing on dropped off abruptly; it was very steep, and the loose dirt, his bum leg, and his failing strength all combined to make any attempt certain to result in a full dunking. Wait. He moved forward cautiously, and surveyed the shoreline. He was pretty sure he knew the way he had to go. The Unas had taken him... there. Up that way. It wasn't far. He could make it.  
  
He did. One step at a time, satisfying visions of slaking his thirst - cupped hands; no bending into the water; be sure to use cupped hands, Daniel - and filling the water bottle before collapsing under the nearest tree distracting him from the increasing misery of each and every step he took. He slowly rounded the gradual wide bend, and instantly recognised how close he truly was. The path went downhill rather sharply as it turned, and he stumbled down it, anxious over the possibility of another fall. The embankment quickly gave way to the irregular wide open area along the bank as he reached the bottom of the hill and made his way right round the bend. _Round the bend is right, geek_ , the annoying voice warned him. _What are you, crazy? Leave here while you still can._   
  
Daniel moved forward to just within a few feet of the water's edge, and nervously licked his lips with a dry tongue. The voice was wrong. All wrong. He sniggered; of course the voice was wrong. Hearing disembodied voices had to be a pretty good indication something was wrong. Right, Jack? Anyway, it was just like he'd told Teal'c... he knew of the danger, and forewarned was forearmed. He'd be fine, just so long as he didn't dally. Everything would be fine. He'd have a drink, move away from the water's edge and rest for a bit, and then head out. He glanced up the pathway. Jack and Sam would have gone back to Teal'c, he knew they would have. If he set out in that direction and stayed on the path, he'd eventually run into them. Everything was fine now. _No, it isn't._ Yes it is. Just bugger off.  
  
Daniel carefully set the staff weapon down, leaning it against a nearby large fallen tree trunk, and reached back to unclip the water bottle from his utility belt. Tingling, stiff fingers didn't want to work quite right, and his abraded wrist twanged as he flexed it. He dropped the bottle, feeling frustration rise to new levels as it took a large bounce and tumbled down the slight incline towards the water. He lunged for it, bending forward, but all that netted him was a faceful of dirt. Laying prone on the ground, head held up to keep his face out of the damp soil, one arm impotently reaching forward with fingers spread wide, Daniel watched in alarm as the water bottle bounced its way right into the water and lazily started to float downstream. He scrambled forward in an awkward crab-walk, moving both forward and obliquely to try to head it off before it got to far. He just made it to the water's edge when there was a sudden turmoil of foam and fury just the other side of the water bottle, and Daniel jerked back in a state of full panic as he saw flashes of several fleshy, harshly segmented symbiote bodies in the maelstrom. _Go! Get the fuck out of here, you idiot!_ Okay! Going! Going!   
  
The water bottle bobbed maniacally for a second, and then disappeared beneath the froth. A discolouration spread in the water, and if anything the turmoil increased. Daniel stopped his frantic backpedalling on his butt as he realised with sick fascination that the idiot symbiotes were actually fighting to the death over the plastic bottle. Abruptly the water calmed, it's surface settling into a choppy version of its previously lazy downstream glide. Daniel sat on the shore, staring. Had they gone? What did they -   
  
Shit! Oh God! _Go! Go, go, go,go,go,go..._ He let out a hoarse shriek of surprise and frantically but mostly ineffectually kicked out to propel himself backward, as a symbiote came screaming toward him fully airborne, shedding water like a silk sheet. Somewhere underneath his own panicky noise and motion, Daniel thought he heard a dull plop and was pretty sure he felt something thwap him on the leg. He opened his eyes - he'd closed his eyes? - to see the symbiote laying on the ground beside his left thigh. A victim of its own kind, it was torn more than half open, globular bluish-grey guts obscenely glistening in a bed of darker blue visible through the large split up its middle. The head hung limply, the beady vestigial eyes vibrating slightly and the tail lazily flapping for a second until the whole thing shuddered and heaved up, scaring the shit out of Daniel yet again, and then suddenly deflated into gummy, runny, vile-smelling death.  
  
 _Time to leave, hero._ Okay, yeah. Daniel found himself in complete agreement with the voice in his head. He could go with that plan. Leave. Breathing heavily, his heartbeat hammering in his ears, Daniel moved to get up off the ground only to jerk onto all fours and scramble madly as the water rippled alarmingly in several locations far too near the shore for comfort. He heard splashing behind him as he got up and moved as fast as he could, pausing only to snatch up the staff weapon from where it lay against the log while doing his best to pelt right the hell on out of there. He didn't stop until he was well along onto the wide dirt pathway. He had no choice but to stop; it was that or fall again. He dropped the staff and bent forward, hands on his thighs, pulling in great gulps of air which did no more good than to near choke him, his legs trembling so badly he knew he was pretty much done with any sort of effective weight bearing for the time being. He sank to his knees, then down to lay on his back on the ground, arms spread widely to the sides.   
  
Everything hurt. He couldn't seem to catch his breath. He still didn't have any water, and sincerely doubted he'd have the nerve to go try again. Teal'c had been right; Daniel was stupidly naive. So, that was it then. He couldn't do this after all. _You said you could do it._ The voice was bitterly disappointed, accusing. _You all but promised me you could do it._ Oh, come on... never did. What a crock. _You did! You said..._   
  
"I never did!" Daniel screamed it out loud. "I never promised anything!" His dry throat felt as though it'd just ripped inside. Ouch. "I tried, Jack. I really tried," he whispered. "It's too hard."  
  
 _Maybe for a geek._ You shut up. _You get up._ Get out of my brain. _Grab a brain. Your team is somewhere just up the street here. You can still do this. It's just a bit of exhaustion and dehydration. Not even very severe dehydration, at that. You aren't dying, you know._  
  
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fine. If you say so. Daniel rolled over onto his belly and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He gazed down the pathway, not consciously registering much of the scenery. He was tired, so very tired. _What's that?_ What? _Don't 'what' me. What the fuck is that, over there?_ Where? Ohh... there? He squinted toward the treeline. There was something there. A mound of some kind, an off-colour something or other, in amidst the low brush just where the dirt gave way to patchy green undergrowth and weeds. He crawled toward it, remembering the staff just in time to scoop it up to take with him. He'd only gone a few more feet when he suddenly realised just what he was looking at.  
  
A person. An SGC person, to be exact. An SGC person laying prone, facing away from him, half in the woods, half in the dirt, not moving. That wasn't good. It was bad. Very bad, in fact. Daniel pushed himself up and staggered over, knelt next to the figure, and ignoring all else for the time being placed shaking fingers over the man's carotid artery while keeping a close watch on his back for signs of breathing. The pulse was there... too fast and far too thready, but it was there. Ditto for respiration. The patch on his arm said SG2, and Daniel's own heart sped up as he remembered what Teal'c had said about the SG2 team. One man injured, one dead. Griff and Pierce, missing. He leaned over far enough to look at the face of the man, and recognised Pierce.   
  
Daniel carefully ran his fingers entirely around Pierce's neck - front, back, and sides - and let out a sigh of relief at the result. He flicked a finger against Pierce's cheek, calling his name into his ear, but the man was deeply unconscious. Must have something to do with all those patches of blood on his lower back. _Ya think?_ Be quiet. Just be quiet for once. Daniel dragged in a shaky breath. Pierce had been shot, multiple times. The same Goa'ulded person who'd shot Teal'c had to have done this. _Wow, another brainstorm. You're on a roll, Dannyboy._ Shut up, dammit. Have to do something. Have to help. Daniel scanned the immediate vicinity, but there was no sign of Pierce's pack, nor, Daniel realised with a sudden chill, of the automatic weapon Pierce was certain to have been carrying. Daniel checked the holster on his thigh; the sidearm was also gone. Wait! He reached carefully around and under Pierce's left shoulder, groping for the comm unit which should have been there. Which, unfortunately, wasn't there. Damn! He considered turning Pierce over to make sure it hadn't come dislodged and was laying underneath the man, but was afraid of those wounds being so close to the spine. He looked around again, this time letting his gaze travel a bit farther afield. Pierce's pack had to be somewhere, it just had...  
  
What was that? _Ooooh, don't go there..._ Over there, tucked neatly alongside the other side of the log he'd rested the staff against earlier... a large dark mound of some kind hidden in the shadow of the big trunk. _No, you don't really want to know, you don't, you don't, you don't._ A very large, long mound shaped like... _Isn't one enough for you? What the hell is your problem, boy? You don't know when to quit, do you?_ Daniel absently reminded the voice it hadn't let him quit when he'd wanted to just a few moments ago, and after one more quick check of Pierce's carotid pulse he slowly moved back toward the large log. As he got closer, the large lump resolved into two discrete smaller lumps. Two. Oh, God, no.  
  
The one jammed up right under the log was covered with a field blanket, and the other nearest Daniel was in a black, zipped-up body bag. Daniel realised no doubt the body bag was one which had been brought by the S &R team, intended for him in the event of a worst case scenario. His hands turned ice cold. Two. One of them... Griff? Yeah, probably. And, who else? Daniel's gut was clenched so tightly it hurt, his chest so seized up with dread that he couldn't take a decent breath. What had Teal'c told him? Something about more than one person having being Goa'ulded? He couldn't think straight. It just had to have been the guy who had shot Teal'c that had gotten Pierce, though, so maybe...   
  
_Never mind. Just turn around and walk away. Don't look._ Quiet. Be quiet. He had to do this, if for no other reason than to see if either of them had a comm unit in place. Daniel leaned over, and with shaking hands reached across the body bag to draw the blanket down off the head of the far body. Oh, God! He pulled the blanket lower. The charring on the chest was all too familiar; Teal'c had done this, and it must have been for a good reason. Hell. Closing his eyes momentarily first, Daniel focused on what he had to do and pulled on Hawkins' collar. He immediately found the jagged entry site around toward the back, low on the man's neck.   
  
_"It's all right, Hawkins can do a water run."_  
  
Oh, dear God. God, God, God. It took Daniel an eternal moment to compose himself. To breath and see and hear and think again. There wasn't any radio. He pulled the blanket back up into place and sat back. Focus. Don't think about anything but what you need. Just concentrate on the objective; nothing else matters. _Oh sure, right. That's so you._ You don't know anything for certain yet. Don't assume. Just think about how you're doing this because you have to. Three men, three comms. Three tries. Don't think about the rest right now. Breathe. So far, it was two strikes... please let this last throw be a home run.   
  
Don't know anything. No assumptions. Just a purpose. Just do it. Daniel gritted his teeth, and reached for the zipper tab at the head of the body bag. It stuck slightly when he tugged on it. He had to wiggle it to get it going, but then it released and snicked evenly on down over the teeth to slowly reveal the bag's contents.   
  
He knew for sure even before he got it open past the hairline. He knew. Ohhh, he knew. He knew it, he knew it. Knew it. Oh no. No no no. Oh God no. He knew it. Please. No. Please, oh please.   
  
He pulled Robert's body up onto his lap, cradled his head and shoulders in his arms, and rocked. No. No.  
  
No... No... No...

 

* * *

 

Keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity was something to strive for, but no doubt he was taking that metaphor far too literally. Both of Jack's lips were tightly drawn to the point that he imagined them being so thin as to have disappeared off his face entirely. He could feel lines and furrows of grim perseverance digging ever deeper into his forehead and at the sides of his mouth as he marched on farther and farther in the opposite direction of where he really wanted to be headed. With each impact of his boots on the damp ground he reminded himself he basically had no choice, and with each breath in and out of his body he knew that was a pile of reeking dogshit deeper than anything ArseButt had or ever could have produced.

  
There was always a choice, and he had made the one he thought was best. The one he knew he had to make. He was responsible for all these people, and given the proven dangers of this godforsaken world it was time to get them home. Or at the very least get them started on the road to home. It felt as though there was a long, tense bungee cord wound around his waist, its opposite end anchored in the clearing where he had found Teal'c. With every step he took it stretched tighter and tighter, pulled against his forward motion more and more, got closer and closer to the point where it'd snap back with enough force to rip his body in two.   
  
He had to go back.   
  
But he couldn't go back.   
  
But, he would go back. Just not yet. Right now the priority was getting this motley crew to the previous night's bivouac site, and deciding from there if they had enough time before nightfall to safely travel any further. It was obvious they wouldn't make it back to the dig site before the sun set, and equally obvious that to try to travel in the dark was a last resort option. From his position at the back of the pack, he critically assessed the group. The two uninjured members of SG3 manned the travois, a grunting and grimacing Griff securely strapped in place in the contraption, the double layer of blankets underneath him doing nothing to soften the rough ride. The other two marines gamely marched on side by side just behind the travois, occasionally offering quiet words of encouragement to Griff and one another. Their wounds disinfected and bandaged as well as limited supplies would allow for, and given the careful pace needed to spare Griff at least some portion of agony, the two men were managing just fine even though the group had been toiling down the trail for close to an hour already. They were doing better than fine, actually, considering they were injured, as even now they were still doing their part in staying alert, weapons at hand as they diligently watched for any lions-tigers-bears-things, Unas, crazed hosts, or any other dangers which might pop out of the woods.  
  
Carter was on point, just visible ahead of the rest of them. Other than being impatient as hell with him and doing her disciplined best not to let it show, she was fine too. He knew she'd be finer, though, if he'd have let her in when making this decision. She had beseeched him with her body language and her eyes as he'd stood alone in the brush wrestling with duty versus desire, knowing and hating what he had to do all the more because not only was his decision a foregone conclusion, but also because he didn't doubt for a moment he was doing the right thing in choosing duty. He knew what she had wanted, and he knew why. She'd wanted to be asked to put forward options, to give voice to considerations and alternatives. He understood that for her, even when she already knew how the dice would roll, examining the variables out loud was her way of working through a situation, a means of meeting her own need to protect her conscience while reconciling herself to the inevitable.   
  
He hadn't let her do that. He hadn't asked, and with one sharp glare had told her in no uncertain terms that unsolicited analysis was unwelcome. He really didn't want to hear it, didn't need it in order to make his decision, and certainly didn't need such an explicit reminder of just what he was doing. Which was, of course, leaving Daniel behind. Albeit a short term temporary situation - he hoped. But of course she didn't know that, because he'd shut her out and had no intention of changing that.  
  
Teal'c, walking just ahead of Jack, was slowing down. Jack frowned, hoping Teal'c was all right. While it was obvious Teal'c was uncomfortable and tired, at least the shoulder looked much better now it was cleaned and the arm supported in a makeshift sling. Jack was concerned about that bang Teal'c had taken to the head, though. By both Jack's observation and Teal'c's own admission he'd been unconscious for a considerable amount of time, and that he'd been disorientated enough to attack Daniel in error was especially worrisome. A probable grade two or three concussion was nothing to take lightly, even considering Teal'c had a personal, built-in, holistic healer.   
  
Jack needn't have worried, however. Teal'c shortened his stride enough so that Jack fell in alongside him, and if anything Teal'c looked stronger than he had at the outset of their hike. He gave Jack an appraising look. The old up with a single eyebrow coup. Never failed to get results. Despite himself, Jack found himself asking, "What?" Ah, crap. Please, Teal'c, there were things no one ought to speak of. Please, just let it be.  
  
Teal'c let them walk on in silence for too many more paces for Jack's comfort, before the eyebrow dropped back down into its natural position and he answered, "You have no reason to doubt your decision to escort us, O'Neill."  
  
Fine, yes, already knew that bit. Thanks for the support. Jack didn't answer, knowing Teal'c would understand he really didn't want to discuss it. Teal'c simply nodded, and they walked on side by side in companionable silence for a while. But there was another decision, the details of it made both necessary and unwise by the same sense of duty which had him walking away from Daniel; a decision he wasn't so sure about, the uncertainty tearing at him, and eventually he just had to ask.  
  
"Teal'c..." How to say this? "Do you... what do you think about -"  
  
"Made host or not, the Daniel Jackson I last saw was not under the control of a Goa'uld."  
  
Oh, shit. Jack lost his temper, his hand slashing through the air with a vehemence equal to that in his voice. "Oh, cut the crap, Teal'c! I don't need you dancing around this. Shit, you've been hanging around Daniel far too long if you can't give a straight answer to a straight question. Do you think Daniel has one of those snakes in him, or not? If you can't be honest with me, just don't bother at all, then."  
  
A heavy hand on his shoulder yanked against his forward motion, stopping him and hauling him around to face Teal'c. The look on Teal'c's face was calm, however grave, and his voice was clear and steady, but the strength of his fingers digging in to Jack's shoulder to the point it hurt was a clear sign the Jaffa was also angry. "Listen to me, O'Neill. You do not ask a straight question. You ask me to approve of your unspoken decision to leave and search for Daniel Jackson on your own. You ask me to assure you that you are safe in doing so, that you will not be required to fire upon and kill your friend as you were to kill his. In this, you ask too much of me."  
  
Oh, crapfuck. Hell. Jack stood there, the truth of Teal'c's words biting deep, feeling as if he was turning to stone. A hard knot formed in his chest. That was exactly what he was doing - seeking some sort of false assurance, looking for a way to deceive himself that his determination to ignore the lack of manpower and go alone to look for Daniel had more to do with certainty over Daniel's situation than it did uncertainty. He was so fucked up.  
  
Teal'c suddenly stiffened, his grip on Jack's shoulder tightening even further and his attention turning to the group in front of them. Jack looked ahead to see they had all abruptly stopped, and the travois was being slowly and carefully lowered to the ground. Beyond that he caught a glimpse of Carter, frozen in place facing forward down the trail, one hand supporting her upraised weapon and the other held up high in an unmistakable gesture of alert. Admonishing caution. Demanding silence. She stood there for a few seconds longer, slightly hunched over, leaning forward, and then very slowly began walking backward, placing her feet carefully and silently as she backed off from the head of the trail where it entered a blind curve in front of her. Her wariness and tension infected the entire group, and Jack found himself hefting his weapon in tune with the others, his breath hitching in his chest as he strained to see and hear the invisible and inaudible.  
  
Taking a good look around in his heightened state of alertness, suddenly becoming aware of just how close they were to their pit stop now, Jack cursed his own preoccupations. He should have traded places with Carter long before now. The second Teal'c dropped his hand from Jack's shoulder Jack sidled away from him, seeking more distance lest they inadvertently impede one another or make any unwelcome noise as they moved forward. Teal'c was silent accompaniment as Jack instinctively moved in the way of the hunted and the hunter, gliding forward, his boots dancing over the dirt so as to produce only the most insignificant and natural of noises. The commanding officer in him made a mental note of the almost equally fluid, noiseless way Carter moved as she came back to them, and filed it away in the approvals and commendations basket in his head. In only a few short years, she was really getting the hang of it. A damn good officer.  
  
His damn good officer was relaxing somewhat now as she got farther away from the head of the trail. Once she reached the main group she lowered the upraised hand and allowed her weapon to sag to half-mast. So, apparently nothing was imminently about to bear down on them, then. Jack quickened his pace to meet her, allowing the occasional out of place noise to escape, no longer quite as concerned as he had been. He sensed Teal'c at his side loosening up ever so slightly as well, and when he and Carter met up Teal'c was right there with him.   
  
Her voice was a whisper. "Sir, I was sure I heard some noises up ahead, but then they stopped. I think there's something there."   
  
What? That's it? Noises. What kind of noises? They were in a godammed forest, Carter. He narrowed his eyes at her, mentally placing a note in the not-so-commendable filing basket for the uncharacteristic ambiguity.   
  
She looked slightly flustered in response to his wordless criticism, and then simply shrugged as she tried to clarify it. "I don't know... just, something that didn't sound like it belongs here. It was faint, Sir, hard to identify." Then her jaw tightened and her voice firmed. "I may not know exactly what it was or be able to describe it, but I did hear it and I know there's something up ahead other than trees and wildlife, Colonel. I'm certain."  
  
Okay. Fair enough. Jack quickly advised the others to stay put, earning himself an unhappy stare from Teal'c as he clarified that order included the Jaffa, and motioned for Carter to lead the way. Once they'd left the rest of the group and were almost at the bend in the trail, they slowed their advance to an almost painful extent, each step forward an exercise in tight muscle control as they tried to avoid making any noise which would prevent them from hearing what may be ahead and reveal their presence to... it, whatever.   
  
They stopped at the apex of the curve and Carter leaned in close to him, her voice softer than a light breeze on his ear and her warm breath tickling his skin. "The bivouac is just around the bend. You can hear the water if you listen closely."  
  
Yes, he could hear it. A faint swish and trickle underneath the noise of the woods... the rustle of foliage, the gentle drip of moisture off the leaves on the tall bushes next to them, the intermittent scuttle and scurry of some small animal on the ground or in the trees. A barely audible ebb and flow of water, life-giving father and mother of the forest. He squinted his eyes and cocked his head and with all his heart and soul hated the sound and very existence of it, spawning ground of evil that it was.  
  
Carter suddenly leaned forward, and at the very same moment as her he heard it too. Something else other than the native sounds of woods of water, an indefinable low cadence which carried on for several seconds until it faded away. She was right; it wasn't identifiable as anything in particular, but it clearly didn't belong. He took point, staying as close to the bush along the side of the dirt trail as he could without risking brushing against it and making too much noise as he carefully advanced around the bend. Carter was but a wisp of sound and substance behind him as the noise repeated itself, a quiet grumble which began abruptly, rose slightly in tone and volume, and then once again faded away before he could place what it might be.  
  
If his memory served him, the large log which he'd pillowed against the night before was adjacent to a heavy thicket of brush, the stump of the tree it used to be sitting just at the point where the dirt track they were following began to straighten out. So, just a bit farther. He felt Carter's hand on his back, and turned, then shook his head in a definite negative as she signaled a suggestion that one of them split off to the far side of the pathway. No, not even though it was a scant twenty feet of separation. No way. This time, they stay together. Like glue, dammit.  
  
He halted as the noise came again, and... what? Wait. His neck muscles tensed and lips squeezed into a tight line as he concentrated, as if that in conjunction with the almost painfully tense squint of his eyes might somehow improve his hearing. The noise continued for slightly longer this time, and... God, yes. Yes. He knew what it was now, and his grip on the P90 tightened automatically in anticipation of what he was probably going to be called on to do.  
  
A voice. It was a human voice. Male. Muted mumbling so quiet that he could only now, this close to the clearing where it had to be coming from, recognise the noise for what it was. The words themselves were still too faint to be decipherable, but it was definitely language. There were two men unaccounted for - any two of Pierce, Sanchez, and Pankratz - and at least one of them was right around the corner. Carter's hand clutching the back of his vest was a sure sign she was thinking the same thing. Jack turned to her, drew her in close, and whispered into her ear, "Stay behind me. Follow the edge of the thicket to the near end of the stump."   
  
She nodded her acknowledgement, and he moved them forward at a snail's pace. The voice was intermittent, and as he approached the last portion of the corner it silenced. He heard some indistinct scraping and crunching and carefully picked up speed, worried that whoever it was might leave the clearing and enter the woods before they could get a good fix on him. He led Carter to the right of the trail to skirt the edge of the thicket, and they were just rounding the last of it toward the large stump when the muttering started up again, and oh God it wasn't possible, he was mistaken, had, had, had to be, didn't want to be, wanted it to be true so badly he could taste it even as he was deathly afraid of it being true; but it couldn't be true, it was too good to be true so it wasn't possible...  
  
He could see the clearing now. And yes, it was far too good to be true. He'd known it was too good to be true. Known it, and now the sight and sound of both what he'd most wanted and the concrete unassailable evidence of what he'd most dreaded hit him pretty much as hard as one of the worst gut-punches he'd ever received. Set him reeling back on his heels to the point he barely got his arm out in time to stop Carter as she excitedly moved to go past him into the clearing. Shot an arm out just in time and nabbed her hard, clutching her forearm and hauling her back so brutally she hissed in surprise and discomfort. He allowed himself a split-second's glance away from the clearing to give her a warning look and a quick, non-equivocal shake of his head. She stared at him, her eyes wide and uncomprehending, but that was too bad. She was going to have to figure it out for herself, because there wasn't enough spit in the mouths of all the billions upon billions of people populating the galaxy to adequately moisten his own enough so he could speak just then.  
  
Many of the words carried to them now. "...know how they expect...for God's sake..."  
  
Hands. Daniel's hands were untied. It was all Jack could see. Untied. It filled his awareness, sharpened the realised fear and dismay in his gut, brought sour bile to the back of his throat. Daniel's hands were untied.   
  
"...crazy. Given what the thing is supposed...think they'd...easier to..."  
  
It took Jack a moment. Needed a moment. Then as the rusted chains wrapped around his lungs loosened enough so he could breathe again, he was able to take in more of the scene. Daniel was all alone in the clearing, as far as Jack could tell. Sitting there on his butt at a slight angle to their position, hunched forward, right leg curled under him and the other awkwardly extended out in front of him, knee slightly bent and heel dug into the ground. He was surrounded by the scattered contents of two empty packs discarded in the dirt beyond him. Hands, untied. Doing... something.  
  
Daniel / not-Daniel was obviously frustrated. He was rocking back and forth slightly as he fumbled with something in his lap, alternately muttering so softly that there was no hope anyone would hear it unless they happened to reside in the man's vocal chords, and then loudly enough so Jack and no doubt Carter could easily make out most of the words from where they stood twenty feet away. Jack stared in distress at the chaos, at the items large and small haphazardly littering the area immediately around Daniel. He'd taken the contents from both packs and literally strewn them all over the place.   
  
His hands were untied, and he'd made it all the way here on his own when he could barely stand up straight the last time Jack had seen him, and he'd ransacked the packs.   
  
"...God! Come on!" The rocking intensified, and suddenly Daniel / not-Daniel yelled loudly, "He doesn't have time for this!" and with a convulsive movement hurled the two items he'd been hunched over away from him. They flew through the air, one of them landing in clear view almost right in front of the bushes where Jack stood. He only just began to get a glimmer of understanding of what Daniel was up to, felt a small precious spark of hope ignite in his chest, when Daniel abruptly reached up and yanked the coiled leather leash up and over his head and arm, jerkily forcing it off his body and throwing it in the dirt. He kicked at it with his outstretched leg, and Jack clearly heard the pain and frustration in his voice as he accused it, "This is all your fault. Get away from me. He's going to die and it's all your fault." He pounded the ground with his fists, and immediately yelped and brought both arms up across his chest, hugging his hands and wrists to himself. Head down. Rocking.  
  
Carter was straining at the bit beside him, her arm still in his tight grip. She hissed at him, "Sir! For God's sake, let me go to him! You can cover me. Having an audience shouldn't change anything. You can still blow him to kingdom come if you think you need to, if he spits at me with a forked tongue or you see the whites of his eyes. Just..." She pulled at her arm, "...let me go!"  
  
She knew. She'd known all along, and he was a fool. He very nearly did let her go right then, but Daniel stopped rocking to roll off his rear onto his side, looking and reaching with one arm toward something large, dark, and lumpy lying by the log, just at the edge of Jack's view. Jack's heart plummeted, the spark dying, as Daniel plaintively choked out, "I'm sorry. I tried. I'm sorry, Robert, but I can't do it. I don't see how we're going to make it."  
  
Carter yanked her arm free and was past him before Jack could react. Daniel's head jerked up, his body twisting around to her as she moved into the clearing. He stared, then let out a strangled cry at the sight of her, and she responded by moving more quickly toward him. Jack sucked in a breath and then released it with relief as she continued on to crouch at Daniel's side without being cut down in a hail of bullets, and as nothing came hurtling out of the shadows at her. But she was too close. Considering the unknowns here, she was far too close. He moved forward, his P90 at the ready sweeping the surrounding area carefully, continually flicking his gaze from Daniel to Carter to the water to the treelines to the pathway. Daniel gasped out Carter's name, and Jack picked up the pace as he heard him gush something about how they didn't have much time, he was right over there, and they had to hurry if they wanted to save him.   
  
Save...? Okay, so that was definitely the Daniel part of the unknown in the equation speaking. Too bad he was certifiably _nuts_ , though. God, Daniel, surely even a loony could see it was far too late for that. Carter was kneeling next to Daniel, holding on to both his forearms as he clutched at the lower portion of her vest. Too close! Jack reached their side in time to hear Carter's gentle reply, "Daniel, no. No, it's too late. I'm so sorry."  
  
Daniel sat there staring at her with a stricken expression on his face, his mouth open but no sounds coming out. Jack leaned forward, grabbed the back of her vest, and yanked her away. Daniel didn't release her in front though, and Jack only succeeded in pulling both of them off balance. They hit the ground, Carter on her butt with Daniel pitching forward almost on top of her before letting go and scrambling sideways. Carter got up and reached out for him, but filthy and swollen hands waved her away. "No! No, it's not me needs help! You're wrong, you have to be wrong." An equally filthy face turned up to Jack, the depth of pain in Daniel's eyes making Jack cringe. "Jack! No, no it can't be too late! I just checked him, I did, it couldn't have been more than ten, no, five, probably only five minutes ago..."   
  
Carter shifted uncomfortably beside Jack and shot him a pleading look. No. The answer was no. Stay put. Setting himself in protective stone, he faced Daniel square on. "Hello, Daniel. Got a question for you."   
  
Daniel stared uncomprehendingly up at the two of them, his mouth moving slightly but no words coming out. He was a mess, looking impossibly tired, deep black circles under his eyes. Dirt streaked his pallid face and his grubby damp clothing, his hair equally a disaster area as the rest of him. Along with the swollen fingers, Jack noted the streak of dried blood along the outside of Daniel's right thigh, and the way he wasn't placing much weight on his left knee as he wobbled there in front of them. Overall, Daniel was a pitiful sight.   
  
Carter tried again. "Sir, please. I'll be all right."  
  
Jack ignored her, allowing a quick beat of silence, then launched the million dollar question. "How did you get your hands free?"  
  
Beside him, Carter sighed deeply. Whether it was because she hadn't thought of that wrinkle herself or because she had and had decided to put it aside in favour of showing compassion, Jack wasn't sure. He was all too damnably certain, though, that him doing his job here precluded giving in to compassion right now.   
  
The confused expression on Daniel's face slowly cleared and was replaced by flustered disbelief as he awkwardly levered himself to his knees. "What?" The word was sharp, more of a condemnation than a question.  
  
Jack gestured to the rope laying on the ground beyond Daniel. "Nice trick. How'd you manage it?"  
  
Daniel stared at him, his face darkening. "What? God, is that all you care about?" He made a gesture of his own, a vehement wave in the general direction of the log at the edge of the trail. "For God's sake, please! Go check him again!"  
  
Carter's voice was gentle, her tone soothing. "Daniel, I'm sorry. He's gone. It happened hours and hours ago... surely you can see that?"  
  
"Wh... what? What?" Daniel was suddenly struggling to his feet. "What the hell are you talking about? You don't know what you're..." He paused, stumbled in place, and gaped at them. "Oh my God. You think I... you're..." Suddenly he leaped forward unsteadily, reaching out for Carter. Jack pulled her back as Daniel grabbed for her, yelling, "No! Not Robert! For pity's sake, shit, no - "  
  
Startled, Jack roared back at him. "Stop right there, Daniel! Answer the question! How did you get the rope off?"  
  
"Fuck, Jack, that's not important right now! God!" Daniel was obviously over-exerting himself; he staggered and almost fell, but his mouth was still working in fine form. "I can see Robert is dead, shit, I'm not freaking insane here. No, it's Pierce, you shithead," he pointed to the treeline at the far side of the dirt trail, across from the big log. "Go, Sam, go check him... he's just there, just in the bushes; he's been shot in the back."  
  
Carter took off like a deer in the direction Daniel had indicated even before Jack had fully processed what he'd just heard. Having delivered the message Daniel abruptly went down like a stone, dropping to the ground to sit with his right leg again curled underneath him, both hands supporting his left knee as he shook his head, eyes closed, mumbling something barely audible to himself.   
  
Jack wondered if she should even try to regain control over the situation - not that he'd ever actually had it to begin with. Where ever Daniel was involved command was an illusion, dependent more upon comradeship, communication, and respect than upon authority. He chastised himself for not having remembered and used that, and crouched down beside Daniel, just out of touching distance. "What was that?"  
  
Daniel brought his bowed head up, opening red-rimmed, tired eyes. "What?"  
  
"That." Jack flicked a hand toward Daniel, meaning, that, what you said.  
  
Daniel didn't get it. "That? What, that?"  
  
Okay. Start again. "What was it you just said? I didn't quite catch it."  
  
Daniel rubbed his knee. "Nothing. Not important."  
  
Oh, like the rope supposedly wasn't important? Irritation rose, and Jack knew it was all too evident in his voice when Daniel's eyes widened as he lectured him. "Everything I ask you or say to you is important right now, Daniel. You got that? I need answers. So, give them to me, right now. How did you get the fucking leash off? How the fucking hell did you find your way through the forest from way over there to way over here?"  
  
Instead of answering his questions, Daniel jerked upright from his slouch, looking both alarmed and ill. "Teal'c! Jack, Teal'c is in trouble, he was shot... oh shit, hours ago! God, it's been - "  
  
"Teal'c is fine, Daniel." The immense fear and disbelief in Daniel's eyes softened Jack's tone. "It's okay. He's just down the trail from here. He's bouncing right back; you know Teal'c. We heard the shooting just as we found Griff. I left Carter to look after him, and hightailed it back there and found Teal'c. It was you firing the staff, right?"  
  
"Griff?" Daniel's voice sounded as weak and as lost as he looked. "What?"  
  
"Yes, Griff. Never mind that. Was it you using Teal'c's staff weapon back there, Daniel? And was that before or after the rope came off? You have to answer me."  
  
Carter came loping back over, breathlessly excited, before Daniel had finished with his carp imitation. "Pierce, Sir. Daniel's right. He's taken three slugs to the lower back, and one in the thigh. He's alive, but pretty badly off. Amount of blood loss is critical, I think." She gave Jack a blatantly rebellious look and reached out to give Daniel a touch on the shoulder. "Daniel's done the best he could to help him, Sir. Cut away from around the entrance wounds and cleaned and bandaged them." She pushed the envelope further by crouching down right next to Daniel, keeping her hand on his shoulder as she directed a question to him. "Did you try to move him at all, Daniel? To turn him or anything?"  
  
Daniel looked at Jack, exhaustion and surrender plain on his face. "No. I was scared to. Sam, maybe you should back off from me for the time being." He twisted his upper body, pulling his shoulder out from under her hand, and gestured toward the litter on the ground. "There wasn't enough gauze or tape and I couldn't find anything else clean enough to use but bits and pieces of wrapping and stuff. Not very sterile. I gave him an IM shot of antibiotic, not that that's going to help much." He gave Carter a miserable look, and Jack grimaced guiltily as he watched Daniel scoot back from the reassuring, supportive expression which settled on her face.   
  
Carter recovered from the sight before Jack did. "SG3 is just around the corner, but we've got a short rotation period here, Sir. It's going to be starting to get dark in an hour or so. It's a long way, a long time, back to the Stargate."   
  
Daniel flopped back to lay spread out on his back on the ground, hands over his eyes. A low groan was throttled off, replaced by a dismal whisper. "I tried. I tried, Robert. I couldn't do it."  
  
Yes. It was going to be a long way back home. She'd got that right.   
  
"What, Daniel? What couldn't you do?" Oh, Carter. Jack could have throttled her for asking; he really didn't want to know the details of any conversations Daniel might have had with the corpse of the friend Jack had killed. It was all just far too insane.  
  
"The rescue stretcher." Daniel's voice was muffled; he had both hands covering his entire face now. Jack wondered if maybe he ought to pull them away to try to keep that scrape on his cheek from... wait. That was a stupid thought. "I couldn't get the side tubing put together. My wrists are too sore. Not strong enough to twist the pieces into place."  
  
Ah. The items Daniel had flung away from himself in frustration. Daniel had found Pierce, done his best to help him, and had been trying to put together the stretcher when they'd come on the scene. The spark of hope Jack had felt and then lost struggled to resuscitate itself, despite his misgivings. The minor blip of Daniel also having been talking to a dead man was something Jack found a bit scary, but in an entirely different way than compared to the major blimp of not knowing just how Daniel had gotten here, and had gotten that leash off. Jack was afraid to let that ember get going too strongly. Teal'c had pinned the butterfly to the wall when he'd said the snake in Rothman was at fault for all of this. Jack now knew, too fucking late for it to do him any good, that he could trust the Daniel they'd saved from the Unas, the Daniel who had in turn saved Teal'c's life, even the one who was lying right here in front of him. He could trust the Daniel of the last hour, the last minute, of the last second and of this very second, this very right here and now. But he had eight people other than himself to think about here, and that meant he couldn't trust the Daniel of the next hour, the next minute, or even of the very next second after this one.  
  
"Call the others. Tell them to come on ahead. And stay back from Daniel." Without a parting glance at either Daniel or Carter, Jack pushed off toward the trees where Carter had been with Pierce. He found him lying semi-prone in the low underbrush, sat down next to him, and did a quick assessment. When Carter had said he was badly off, she hadn't been kidding. He fingered the chain holding the man's dogtags, and remembering the set in his pocket, he pulled them out. Wiped off the blood. Shit. Pankratz.  
  
Laying a hand on Pierce's shoulder, he mulled over the problem and silently promised the unconscious man he'd do what he could, provided the risks to the others were acceptable. Full well knowing it was an empty promise - that given how far from the 'gate they were, Pierce's fate whether for better or for worse was well out of his hands - Jack stood up, dusted off, and crossed the pathway to retrieve the side tubing pieces for the rescue stretcher. He found the ones Daniel had thrown away, and then gathered up the rest of them and the cordura stretcher fabric, and dumped the whole pile next to Carter where she stood on watch a couple of feet away from Daniel. Daniel had one arm at his side and the other thrown across his face, and didn't move, his breathing sounding a bit on the sonorous side. He sat down and started to fit the titanium tubing pieces together.   
  
"He looks bad."  
  
Carter glanced at him. "Who? Pierce, or Daniel?"  
  
Touché there, Carter. "Pierce."  
  
"Daniel's asleep. He's exhausted, Sir. Probably dehydrated too. We have to move it with Pierce; thing is, I don't think Daniel will be able to keep up even if he gets some rest right now. I think there's something wrong with his left leg."  
  
Yeah, noticed that. "We can't go anyway, not all of us." He fitted the end of one tube into the next, twisted firmly, then slid the small cotter pin into place. Efficiently did the next one, and then the next. "Not enough pole-bearers to handle both Pierce and Griff." Heard noises from up the trail and knew the others were just around the bend. "Not enough able-bodied people to keep an eye out." Picked up the last piece of tubing, thinking about all the empty activities he'd engaged in throughout his life. He slid the two lengths of tubing into the sides of the cordura, and Carter bent over and helped to pull them through.   
  
There may not be such a thing as choiceless, but pointless, that was another story. 

 

* * *

  
  
 Daniel woke to pain, too much pain - a huge headache, and an incredible ache in his hip and deep throbbing in his knee which combined to steal his breath away. And to the sound of a lowered deep voice somewhere just off to his right, accompanied by indiscriminate noises telling of movement. To semi-darkness, and to delayed awareness of a silent presence at his side. He turned his head to see, trying to separate dry lips which grated across one another like sandpaper. His mouth tasted like shit.  
  
Teal'c! "Here is water, Daniel Jackson." Before he was ready, a stream of water came jetting from the bottle in Teal'c's hand and hit him only more or less in the general vicinity of his mouth. It barely wet his lips, most of it running down his chin, over his neck. He nodded his thanks anyway. It was nice of Teal'c to try. To even be here sitting so close to him. Oh, look. What was that Teal'c was... oh. A sling. Right. That made sense.  
  
"Sit up. We shall try again." A big hand fisted in his jacket, and Daniel was drawn up. He put his hands down and tried to support himself as best he could as Teal'c pulled. His hip screamed at him long before he was actually sitting upright, and his head swam, vertigo upping the ante his headache had staked. Teal'c stared at him in the dying light for a moment, and then slid an arm under his own and hauled on him even moreso. "You are unable to sit unsupported. Come with me."  
  
Daniel mumbled, "Maybe I should just lie back down then," but he was already halfway up, the part of him not actively trying to stifle tears - wouldn't that be mortally embarrassing - marveling at how Teal'c's being shot and concussed evidently hadn't put much of a dent in his ability to throw Daniel around like he was a dried-up leaf on the wind. Limping painfully, he closed his eyes against the dizziness, leaned on Teal'c, and hoped to hell they weren't going very far because if so there was no way he'd make it. Damned if he wasn't already about to pitch over onto his face the minute Teal'c relaxed his grip. He was eased down a few staggered steps later, though, and felt the big log at his back.   
  
Oh God. The log. His eyes snapped open and Daniel looked around wildly, everything slip-sliding and spinning around him as the vertigo increased with the movement of his head. He squeezed his eyes closed again and put his hands out to feel the ground at either side of him. Robert. Where was -  
  
"On the other side, Daniel." Jack?  
  
Daniel slowly opened his eyes, experimenting. Okay, if he didn't move his head much it was bearable. Teal'c sat perched on the log, towering over him with water bottle in hand, and Jack was crouched in front of him. Daniel couldn't help but notice the three feet of open air between them, and at the reminder wished he hadn't woken. At least this time there was no challenge, no fearful suspicion, in Jack's voice as there had been before. Jack had answered his question softly, with concern, even though he hadn't actually asked it - Robert was still here, just on the other side of the log. That knowledge was both reassuring and horrifying. Daniel morbidly wondered how the others felt about hanging out in the dark with the dead. Sam, Teal'c... uhh, Jack said they had found Griff, too, right? And that SG3 were here. So, Sam, Jack, Teal'c... uhm, Jack, Teal'c...  
  
He looked around, peering into the dimness of the clearing lit only by the lingering rays of the setting sun. Getting dark out. Why were they still here? For that matter... just who was here? He squinted everywhere looking for any sign of anyone other than the three of them, very aware of Jack watching him closely. That MRI wouldn't come soon enough, damn it. Sam? Where was she? He asked it. "Where's Sam?"  
  
"She isn't here right now." Jack gave a slight flick of his head, and Teal'c stood up and moved off without a word.   
  
"Where'd she go? Did she leave to take Pierce home? With SG3? To the Stargate?"  
  
There was a deep sigh. "She went to the Stargate with SG3, yeah."  
  
Good. That was good. "Who's still here?" He looked around once more, seeing no one else.  
  
"Daniel..." Jack drew his hands through his hair, a sure sign Daniel was trying his patience. "Who do you see here? Never mind. How are you feeling?"  
  
Daniel leaned back against the log, but relaxation was a long ways off. Despite Jack's nicety, there was something immensely heavy hanging in the air between them. It was huge and evil and scary as hell, and Daniel couldn't stand it. It was him, between them, and he was so afraid that he was wrong and Jack was right. "Yes. It was me."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It was me. Firing the staff. What else was it you needed to know? About the rope, right? I got it off later on, in the woods."  
  
"Yeah?" Jack reached down and picked something up off the ground beside him. The rope. It was right there, right next to Jack. Oh, Jesus. "Really? All by yourself? Mind if I ask how?"  
  
Daniel cringed away from the rope, then swallowed against the lump in his throat and admitted to himself that it was probably for the best. Took a deep breath. "Teal'c had already gotten it started. I just found the loop he'd pulled up and worked on it from there. It was easy, actually. It wasn't even really knotted, so to speak." Jack was playing with the rope, drawing the trailers across the ground, making sweeping faint lines in the dirt, and didn't answer.  
  
"I peeled off into the woods not looking where I was going, and I got lost, Jack." Daniel's voice cracked, his throat dry and sore, and he had to pause. Jack dropped the rope and reached behind him to the back of his belt. A water bottle appeared and Jack held it out to him. Gratefully, Daniel squirted a small amount in his mouth, just enough to wet his throat. "It was only luck I made it to here. I had no idea where I was." Please, believe me.  
  
"Drink, but only small amounts at time to start with or you might puke it all up. You got a headache?"  
  
What? Daniel answered cautiously, "Yeah," drawing out the word in his confusion over the change of subject.   
  
"Yeah. Thought you might. Bit of dehydration." Jack picked up the rope again, fiddled with it. "Daniel, the snakes in the water. They're different. The hosts behave... different."  
  
Daniel thought back to his and Teal'c's attacker, to the frenzied, insane chase through the woods. The barrage-style shooting, the howling, the apparent homicidal rage which Daniel had felt the creature blasting at him even from a great distance. "The one chasing me wasn't very rational. Probably too primitive to exert any degree of sophistication of control over emotions." He remembered the fracas in the water, over the plastic bottle. "From what I can tell, they're pretty much out of control in their natural environment, too."  
  
Jack was staring at him strangely. Far too intently. Feeling like a bug under a microscope he hurried on to explain himself, not really understanding why he felt such a strong need to do so. "I mean, they don't seem to be capable of any sort of impulse control. I witnessed a bunch of them ripping each other to shreds in the water, and in a host... well, the one that got Teal'c was on a full-out rampage. It was insane, really. It has to be the same one that shot Pierce and killed Robert. Totally out of control. Look, I know you think that these Goa'uld can somehow hide their existence from the host. I know how worried - "   
  
"What makes you think that?"   
  
Daniel cut off the flow at Jack's interruption, wincing to see Jack's face harden and his whole body tense up. Shit. Think what? He'd just spouted off a ton of stuff Jack likely hadn't wanted to hear; figuring out which part in particular was in question would be hit or miss at best. His confusion was read by Jack before he got a chance to ask, and he got a clarification so carefully worded and precisely enunciated that it was intimidating. "Just what is it makes you think your and Teal'c's attacker shot Rothman?"  
  
Oh. That. "Robert and Pierce, both. Hawkins was killed with a staff blast, and he's the only one of the three with an entry wound. At first I thought he must have done it and then Teal'c shot him. But I realised the trouble with SG2 only happened later. Pierce is SG2. You didn't know there was a problem with SG2 until after we came out of the caves."  
  
Jack turned his head, looked away. Didn't look back. Daniel sat there, silent, his headache slamming at his skull, feeling the pinch in his hip, only too content not to discuss the means of Robert's death further. God, Robert. Daniel stared up at the darkening sky. Robert had been so excited at the prospect of studying the remains of the primitive Goa'uld. Had wanted to do a proper job of it, with proper excavation techniques and documentation. To write it up as a formal academic study, just in case some day the information could go beyond the SGC. Daniel felt a small smile of fondness tickle at his lips. No conclusions allowed without checking sedimentary timelines, Robert had chided him. Rightfully so, too.  
  
"You're wrong about the symbiotes." Jack was looking guardedly at him, his voice so soft Daniel wasn't quite sure he'd caught it correctly until Jack's next words made it clear he had. "At least some of them are capable of far more sophisticated control that you know, Daniel. Hawkins was all but completely devoid of emotion. So damped down in affect I knew right from the start there was something not quite kosher." Daniel nodded as Jack paused, not because he was interested in hearing more but because it was obvious Jack was struggling with getting this out. It was important to Jack.   
  
One sentence later he wished he hadn't encouraged Jack, wished he'd told him to go away, not to talk to him at all. "Rothman was just the opposite." That he could block it all out as if it had never been said. "No way we could tell, none of us, until it was far too late to do anything but react to save lives. We have no way of knowing if the snake was imitating him, or if it was concealing its presence even from its host. Whichever, it was fucking perfect, Daniel. Too damn fucking perfect."   
  
Shut up. Shut up. No. Not Robert. Not to the Goa'uld, not that way.  
  
"I killed Rothman. It was me, Daniel. I did it."  
  
No. Not true. Daniel locked his arms around his stomach. He'd known it. Had. No. Hadn't. Couldn't have because it wasn't true. He swallowed convulsively. Sick. He was going to be sick. God, no, make it not true. It wasn't true when Teal'c had alluded to it back before they'd been attacked. It wasn't true when he realised his team believed he might have a Goa'uld that could fool even its host. It wasn't true when he'd known it before, when he'd pulled the zipper down to reveal tousled dark hair and had known it, had known it, known...  
  
He leaned to one side and with a great cramp and violent jerk, retched up his toenails. Once, twice, then again. He couldn't breathe. The nausea took total control and he was dying from it, the dry retching ripping his guts apart in huge painful heaves. He was cold, like ice, and then so hot he was aflame. Pitching over, unable to hold himself up. Falling short of the ground into something both strong and hard, and soft. Gradually it eased and he was left panting, the muscles in his abdomen aching and his throat seared by bile.   
  
"Okay?" Jack. It was Jack, so strong and hard and soft, supporting him. Daniel nodded; yes, okay. Jack maneuvered him back to lean against the log. The water bottle appeared in front of his face. "Here. Just a bit." The water picked up the sour taste of his mouth, and Daniel couldn't bear to swallow it. He spit it out, but Jack wouldn't let him get away with that, and made him actually drink some. Warm, vile water.   
  
_It's all right; Hawkins can do a water run._ Daniel drew in a deep breath. Closed his eyes. "It's because of Robert that you can't trust me."  
  
There was a pause, then Jack said, "I don't know what to say, Daniel. I want to believe it isn't possible, but we all lived it. He blew up in our faces. Came damned close to killing someone. Too damned close."  
  
Ah, well. "Then you had no choice. Robert would understand, Jack."  
  
"Do you?" The quick question was urgent, clearly blurted out without forethought, hidden anxiety riding on each word.  
  
Daniel bit his lip. He was so tired. Sick, hurting, tired. Scared. "Yes, I understand." His eyes stung suddenly, his nose blocking up. Don't. He held his breath and sternly told himself, don't. Don't cry. "I understand that you shouldn't trust me. You're doing the right thing, Jack."  
  
Jack lurched to his feet and quickly walked away for a short distance, to stand with his back to Daniel. He knew Jack hadn't wanted to be reassured Daniel thought he was doing the right thing. Jack almost always knew whatever he was doing was the right thing, even when it wasn't. He probably wanted to know he wasn't going to end up having to kill him too, but they both knew Jack couldn't accept that reassurance, not until it was offered up in the form of an MRI result. No, there was something else. Something else Jack hadn't told him, didn't particularly want to tell him, but couldn't live with himself if he didn't let spill. Daniel rolled his head back against the log and hoped to God Jack would chicken out on this one. Shit, his hip and knee hurt like hell.  
  
Slowly, Jack turned and walked back, then again crouched in front of him. "It's a long walk to the Stargate. Too long."  
  
Oh God. Not another one.  
  
"I'm sorry, Daniel." Jack picked up the end of the rope and fingered it, silence stretching between them for a few moments, then abruptly grabbed the whole thing up in both hands. "Show me how you got it off."  
  
Fine. May as well tackle the bull by the horns. "So you can be sure to do it up right, so I can't get out of it again?"  
  
Daniel cringed back against the log as Jack abruptly leaned forward and hissed at him, apparent anger at whoever and whatever turning his face into a twisted mask. "What? Did I say anything about tying you up again? What the hell kind of monster you think I am?" He turned his face away, his shoulders sagging. "Fuck, Daniel."   
  
Sorry, sorry.   
  
Jack bowed his head, staring at the ground. His voice was barely audible. "No one is going to tie you up. I'll make sure of it." He suddenly straightened and moved forward, swinging around and dumping himself down to sit against the log, shoulder to shoulder with Daniel. Actually touching him. He held out one end of the rope. "Show me." Daniel frowned at him. How, if he wasn't to put it on first? Jack shrugged, then turned slightly sideways and thrust out both his hands, wrists held closely together. "Show it to me, on me."   
  
Daniel's chest seized up, and he couldn't hold back what had been threatening for most of the day. Before he could prevent it, one rough sob ripped out over the demonstration of such blind faith. Such a difficult, near impossible, thing for Jack O'Neill that Daniel's hands were trembling badly as he accepted the precious gift. Gently, he pulled Jack's wrists a bit farther apart. He held the rope at the base of Jack's left wrist, about three feet from the rope's end, then pulled that portion of it along, looping it over the right before then taking it back along to ensnare the left wrist. He stopped then, averting his eyes to stare at the ground, unsure about continuing.   
  
"Daniel." Jack wiggled his hands. "Really. Show me." His voice dropped to a whisper, soft and rough at the same time. "Show me."  
  
Daniel nodded. Show me you understand that I'm sorry for the things I have to do; show me you understand that I care even though I do what I have to. That was what this was all about, and yes, how could he not return in kind the hard wrought faith so painfully offered him? He took the working end portion of rope and began wrapping it around both of the lengths between Jack's wrists. Struggling with his swollen fingers to make a convoluted mess of the loops similar to what the Unas had produced, he didn't look up as he finished it off, laboriously tucking the free end of the rope he'd been working with into and underneath the messy bundle of loops between Jack's wrists.  
  
"Ah. I see." Jack turned his hands over as much as he could. "Kinda like a figure-eight version of a hangman's knot. He shifted to sit back, once again shoulder to shoulder with Daniel.  
  
"Jack..." He had trouble going on.  
  
"Daniel." It's okay.  
  
No, it wasn't okay. Daniel took a deep breath, twisted his shaky hands in his lap. "Is Robert ever going to get home?"  
  
The only answer for a long period was silence, followed by a gentle bump of shoulder against shoulder. "I don't know, Daniel. I'll try."   
  
Daniel knew from the way Jack answered him, from the grave tone, that he wouldn't only try, he'd fight for it. He reached over and fumbled with the rope binding Jack's hands, located the loop which was the last one he'd made before stuffing the end in underneath, and pulled on it until the end came right free. Jack grunted, and moved his hands apart.   
  
The binding unraveled ridiculously easily, and Jack was free.  
  
Daniel leaned back and closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of Jack's body next to his in the cool night air, hearing the gentle swish of water and low noises of the nocturnal forest awakening. Immense regret brought a renewed tightness to his chest. This world, 888, had been Robert's first contact with a chance to shine in the SGC, to control something uniquely his. And it was his last. That wasn't good enough.   
  
If he was able, if he survived, so long as he wasn't hosting one of the symbiotes, he'd come back here. He'd come back to 888, for Robert. Not only that, he'd keep on coming back. He'd study the Unas, and he'd use proper anthropological methodology, and he'd do it in Robert's name. He wouldn't just ask; he'd fight for it.   
  
There would be no last encounters here.

 

.

 

 


End file.
